By John Ikani
The Omicron variant has been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to 3 days in areas with community transmission, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday.
Omicron is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations, including 26-32 in the spike protein, some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.
“As of December 16, 2021, the Omicron variant has been identified in 89 countries across all six WHO regions,” the WHO said in its latest update. It added that there is “consistent evidence” Omicron will soon outpace Delta where community transmission occurs.
It is because “Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant in countries with documented community transmission, with a doubling time between 1.5-3 days”, WHO said.
The WHO also noted it is uncertain whether the observed rapid growth rate can be attributed to immune evasion, intrinsic increased transmissibility or a combination of both.
“There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron,” the WHO said. “More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity.”
It went on to note that: “There are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy or effectiveness to date for Omicron”.
Meanwhile, preliminary findings from South Africa, the US and the UK and even China on Covid vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca as well as Sinovac have shown vaccine ineffectiveness with two doses. However, a booster dose has shown to be much effective.
