New Delhi: An update about the mutations tells how the new Omicron variant carries some mutations from the previous variants as well. E484K and N501Y are some such mutations and with additions of a few more, this variant can cause severe consequences. WHO has already marked its risk assessment as high in the South Asian region. As of now no peculiar symptoms of this variant have been reported with several asymptomatic cases springing up. The symptoms are usually mild which can be treated at home, the similar symptoms have risen from all five variants ranging from mild fever, cold to headaches.
The efficacy of vaccination against this new variant is still blurry with contradictory statements arising from the makers of Vaccines. Moderna’s Chief Executive, Stephane Bancel previously talked about the low probability of the vaccines being effective against this new variation.
Comparison with the Delta Variant
An aspect that has captured some attention is its comparison with the Delta variant. The sudden strike in cases has to lead to the assumption that it might be more infectious than the previous Delta variant.
Whereas Medical School virologist Jeremy Luban from the University of Massachusetts has said that it’s quite early to make such an understanding. “Upon first impression, it looks like it could be,” he tells NPR. “But that could be totally wrong. Right now, nobody knows. The problem is that our data is very limited.”
Other scientific interventions have tried to interpret how such a variant has sprung up. Alex Sigal, a virologist at the University of KaZulu-Natal, told that the variant might have survived in a single patient for months, therefore, suffered from so many changes.
Scripps Research infectious disease researcher Kristian Andersen has observed that such a huge rise might have been due to increasing in outgoing events such as university or sports events and not really due to transmissibility as reported by Science.
The Condition in South Africa
The virus is believed to have been firstly detected in Botswana and the province of Gauteng on November 1. Still, the source from where it originated can’t be pointed out surely as some earlier samples from some European countries have also reported the emergence of this new variant. On Tuesday, about 4373 cases were recorded in South Africa which doubled in the span of a day with 8567 cases recorded on Wednesday. Though the new Omicron variant can’t be blamed definitely for this rise of cases, the scientists have hinted towards a possibility only.
Regional Virologist for the World Health Organization, Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi talked about the possibility of serious doubling or tripling of the cases as the weekend approaches.
“There is a possibility that we are going to see a vast increase in the number of cases being identified in South Africa”, he told the Associated Press.
Only limited data is present and more studies are going on to assess the severity of this variant. Genomic Sequencing is being carried out in provinces of South Africa to study the transmission capability of the virus along with the effectiveness of vaccines against it.
Meanwhile South African doctor Unben Pillay told reporters about the mild cases that they have been receiving. As per his statement, the vaccinated people are performing better against this new variant but any conclusions can’t be drawn about the effectiveness as South Africa already carries low vaccination rates with only 35 percent population being vaccinated.