Omicron Variant Of Coronavirus: 5 Things To Know

ACROSS AMERICA — Americans should be concerned but shouldn’t panic about the new omicron coronavirus variant identified last week in South Africa, President Joe Biden said Monday. The World Health Organization warned in a technical paper the global risk is "very high" and the mutated cornavirus could lead to surges with "severe consequences."

The variant hasn’t been reported in the United States yet, but Canada’s health minister said Sunday it has been detected in COVID-19 cases in the province of Ontario. The emergence of the new variant, and its spread beyond South Africa, demonstrate the difficulty in keeping the virus in check in a globalized world of jet travel and open borders.

It’s not yet clear if the variant spreads more easily among people than the highly transmissible delta variant that caused a resurgence of COVID-19 cases earlier this year or if there are simply more people in countries with low vaccination rates who are getting sick with COVID-19, regardless of the variant.

In Gauteng, South Africa’s most populated province, the rate of new daily cases went from about 200 a day to 3,200 on Saturday — 90 percent of them caused by the omicron variant, authorities said.

However, the World Health Organization said there’s no evidence so far to suggest people get sicker with the omicron variant than with other variants of the virus, or that vaccines, tests and treatments are less effective with the new variant.

Here are five things to know about the new variant:

1. Why Are Scientists So Worried?

For one thing, it’s genetically distinct from the other variants, including the beta and delta variants. But does that mean more infectious or more dangerous?

The short answer: No one knows for sure.

One big difference between the omicron and other variants is that people who have previously had COVID-19 can be reinfected more easily.

So far, the omicron variant has about 30 mutations in its spike protein, making it the “most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen,” Lawrence Young, a virologist at the United Kingdom’s University of Warwick, told The Associated Press.

Scientists are also keeping an eye on potentially worrying changes that have never been seen all in the same virus, Young said.

2. How Long Before It Makes It Here?

Countries reporting the omicron variant so far include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert and President Joe Biden’s leading COVID-19 adviser, said Sunday it is “inevitable” the omicron variant will make it to the United States.

3. Biden Pushes Shots, Not Restrictions

Biden said Monday the new variant is a cause for concern but is “not a cause for panic.”

Speaking from the White House, Biden said he isn’t considering any widespread lockdowns, as some countries are doing, but urged Americans who aren’t vaccinated to get their shots and those who are to get their boosters. He also asked Americans to resume wearing face coverings in indoor public areas to slow the spread of the virus.

“If people are vaccinated and wear their masks, there’s no need for lockdowns,” the president said.

Last week, the Biden administration restricted travel from South Africa and seven other countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

4. Are The Travel Bans Justified?

Several other countries have imposed travel bans that are far more restrictive. Japan and Israel, for example, have closed their borders to all foreigners entering the country. Morocco is preventing all international flights from landing in the country. Scores of countries in North America, Europe, Africa and beyond have restricted flights from southern Africa.

Neil Ferguson, an infectious diseases expert at Imperial College London, told the AP the travel restrictions are “prudent” given how quickly the omicron variant spread in South Africa, and that they buy time for public health officials.

However, the World Health Organization said travel bans are limited in their effect on the spread of the virus and urged countries to keep their borders open.

The government of South Africa said it’s unfair to single out the country, which was able to identify the variant ahead of other countries with advanced genomic sequencing capabilities.

5. What Are Vaccine Makers Doing?

Scientists hope to know within the next couple of weeks how well the existing inoculations — in the United States, that’s the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — protect against the variant.

Facui said Monday that pharmaceutical companies are adjusting existing COVID-19 vaccines to better attack the omicron variant, and the Biden administration is working with drug manufacturers on potential new boosters and targeted specifically at the new variant.

A vaccine specifically targeting the omicron variant is likely two or three months away, making booster shots now a “very important initial line of defense,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said Monday.

“If we need to manufacture an omicron-specific variant, it’s going to take some weeks, two to three months is probably what we’re looking at to be able to really begin to manufacture,” Burton told ABC.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.