Covid-19: Omicron, the new variant that worries the world
DECRYPTION – As Europe struggles to stem the new winter wave of Covid, the announcement of the discovery of a new “worrying” variant in South Africa has had the effect of an electric shock. What exactly do we know about B 1.1.529 at this stage?
Since South Africa’s announcement on Thursday of the discovery of a worrying new variant, panic has spread around the world like wildfire. The World Health Organization classified it on Thursday as “Worrying” and thus gave it its official name: the Greek letter Omicron. The newcomer has cause for concern: an unusual accumulation of mutations that can both reduce the effectiveness of our immune defenses and increase its contagiousness.
Read alsoCovid-19: B.1.1.529, this disturbing variant identified in South Africa
South Africa very quickly sounded the alert, just 36 hours after the identification of the first alarming signs: a skyrocketing Covid cases among young people in the Gauteng region (North). A sequencing campaign quickly confirmed the presence of a new variant. A few cases have been identified in Botswana, a traveler returning from South Africa exported the new virus to Hong Kong, Israel announced that it had identified three cases on its soil (including one returning from Malawi) and Belgium, a woman
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