Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: A new chapter in the COVID-19 pandemic
With around 86,000 new Covid infections a day, the numbers are still very high. While all eyes are on the uniqueness of the new and less obscure omicron, the delta species of corona-virus have not yet created havoc in the US, sending record numbers of patients to hospitals in other states, particularly in the Midwest and New England.
“Omicron is a spark in the horizon. What is different about Delta is the fire that exists today, ”said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, where a record of 334 hospitalized people have Covid-19 since mid-week.
The US recorded its first known omicron infection on Wednesday, in a completely vaccinated man who had returned to California from South Africa, where the variant began to be identified about a week ago.
And a second U.S. case was confirmed Thursday in Minnesota, involving a vaccinated man who was in New York City. That would suggest that differences have begun to spread across the country.
The variety of Omicron remains a mystery:
But there is much that is not known about the omicron, which includes more contagion than previous versions, making people more sick or easily disrupting the vaccine or breaking the human immune system during the Covid-19 era.
Meanwhile, contagious delta diversity is reported in almost every case in the US and continues to bring grief at a time when many hospitals are experiencing a shortage of nurses and a backlog of patients performing procedures that were canceled at the start of the epidemic. .
“Will we see another increase in cases far higher than what we are seeing now? What will that do to our hospitals? ” In the two years since the genocide, Covid-19 has killed more than 780,000 Americans, with an estimated 900 deaths a day.
Nebraska on Tuesday reported 555 people in hospital with Covid-19 — the highest number since last December, when vaccinations had just begun.
Vermont has recorded the highest number since the beginning of the epidemic: 84. New Hampshire, a former vaccine leader, is now second only to Michigan in the most recent cases per capita two weeks ago.
In Minnesota, ranked third with many new cases per person, the Pentagon sent medical teams last month to two major hospitals to rescue doctors and nurses full of Covid-19 patients.
He said hospitals were struggling due to a combination of shortage of nurses, fatigue and inpatient treatment which had to be postponed at the beginning of the crisis. “Now those chickens are coming home and they will bow down a little,” he said.
At Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where one of the paramedics was deployed, the number of Covid-19 patients has doubled since September, even though it is still under epidemic disease, said spokeswoman Christine Hill.
Dr. Pauline Park, a terminally ill patient at the University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor, described the latest surgery as “heartbreaking.” One Covid-19 patient, a woman in her 20s, died during Thanksgiving. Another, a mother with small children, is on a ventilator.
Arizona, where students in several classes have been forced into solitary confinement, reported more than 3,100 new cases in Covid-19 on Wednesday, prices similar to the catastrophic summer of 2020.
It is said his patient with a blood clot in his lungs had been removed instead of being admitted. Some patients wait for hours in the emergency room.
“It’s difficult because it feels like we’re going back in time, even though we have these vaccines, which are a great weapon for us,” he said.
The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent expert group that monitors from time to time and evaluates the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses whether a particular mutation and combination of changes alters SARS-CoV behavior. -2. virus. TAG-VE was convened on 26 November 2021 to evaluate the variance of SARS-CoV-2: B.1.1.529.
Variations of B.1.1.529 were first reported to the WHO from South Africa on 24 November 2021. In recent weeks, infections have increased dramatically, accompanied by a unique finding of B.1.1.529. The first known confirmed infection of B.1.1.529 was from a statue collected on November 9, 2021.
Several labs have shown that in one widely used PCR test, one third of the target genes are not detected (called S gene dropout or S-target failure) and this test can be used as a marker for this variant, waiting for sequential confirmation. Using this method, the variant was found to be faster than the increase in previous infections, suggesting that the variant may have the potential to grow.
There are a number of ongoing studies and TAG-VE will continue to evaluate this alternative. The WHO will communicate new findings with Member States and the public as required.
Based on the presented evidence showing a dangerous change in COVID-19 epidemiology, TAG-VE advised the WHO that this alternative should be designated as VOC, and that WHO designated B.1.1.529 as VOC, named Omicron .
Thus, countries are requested to do the following:
1) To improve surveillance and follow-up efforts to better understand the circulating variations of SARS-CoV-2.
2)Submit complete genetic sequence and related metadata to a publicly available website, such as GISAID. Report the first cases / groups associated with VOC infection in the WHO using the IHR method.
3)Power is available and in collaboration with the international community, conduct field research and laboratory tests to improve understanding of the potential effects of VOC on COVID-19 epidemiology, acute, effective social and social health measures, diagnostic methods, immune responses, immune system, neutralization, or other relevant features.
4)People are reminded to take steps to reduce COVID-19 risks, including proven public and social health measures such as wearing a good mask, hand hygiene, physical walking, improving indoor airflow, avoiding crowded areas, and vaccination.
According to the index, the WHO has effective definitions of SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Interest (VOI) and Variant of Concern (VOC).
By predictable genetic mutations that are predictable or known to affect viral features such as infection, severity, immune deficiency, escape diagnosis or treatment.
Identified as the cause of significant public transfers or multiple COVID-19 clusters, in many countries with increasing frequency of related and increasing number of cases over time, or other obvious effects of the disease raise the emerging risk to global public health.
Investors had a rough start to the week as analysts predicted it would significantly reduce the chances of another closure following the immediate Omicron spread.
Omicron now threatens the economic benefits made after the previous deadly waves of COVID-19 caused by Delta in India, especially in the country’s capital.
The majority of shares in the NSE have fallen sharply as Bajaj Finance has declined sharply by 4%. Other stocks that have seen significant decline are JSW Steel, Tata Steel, SBI, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Hindalco & Bajaj Finserv.
In Sensex, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India (SBI), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) have seen a major fall, with Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories the only beneficiaries. .
India has reported at least 171 Omicron cases after Kerala and Delhi received new charges on Monday.
In the capital, new COVID-19 cases every day have been badly affected for six months and CM Arvind Kejriwal said all good samples will be sent to detect Omicron’s presence.
The decline in Indian markets reflects the decline in other Asian markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, which have dropped by 2%, according to experts.
