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Scientists have always warned that the biggest risk to the UK at this stage of the pandemic is the emergence of a more infectious, virulent and vaccine-resistant variant of the virus. It remains to be seen whether Omicron, the new variant of concern identified by the World Health Organization last week is that.
But the structure of Omicron – the number of concerning mutations in its spike protein – and the preliminary evidence that there is an increased risk of reinfection with this variant have rightly prompted a global response to try and contain its spread as much as possible. It will be weeks before we understand how just much a risk Omicron presents. If it is much more infectious than the Delta variant of Covid, its global spread is to some degree inevitable, though it will of course be slowed by vaccines and travel restrictions. It is a relief that the government acted far more promptly to impose travel restrictions on South Africa and other affected countries than it did in the case of Delta and India, where a delay of weeks undoubtedly contributed to the speed at which Delta became the dominant variant here in the UK. But it is concerning that the government has not been testing all arrivals from South Africa in recent days in the same way as, for example, the Dutch government has.
Continue reading...source https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/28/observer-view-on-omicron-variant
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