Omicron: All about Omicron

 

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Omicron in the United States

Omicorn #omicorn

CDC is working with state and local public health officials to monitor the spread of Omicron. As of December 20, 2021, Omicron has been detected in most states and territories and is rapidly increasing the proportion of COVID-19 cases it is causing.

 

Omicron Data and Potential Spread

CDC is expecting a surge of COVID-19 cases in the coming days to weeks. Learn more about Omicron variant surveillance and potential rapid spread.

 

What We Know about Omicron

CDC has been collaborating with global public health and industry partners to learn about Omicron, as we continue to monitor its course. We don’t yet know how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, or how well available vaccines and medications work against it.

 

Spread

The Omicron variant likely will spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown. CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.

 

Severe Illness

More data are needed to know if Omicron infections, and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated, cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants.

 

Vaccines

Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated are likely to occur. With other variants, like Delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.

 

Treatments

Scientists are working to determine how well existing treatments for COVID-19 work. Based on the changed genetic make-up of Omicron, some treatments are likely to remain effective while others may be less effective.

 

We have the Tools to Fight Omicron

Vaccines

Vaccines remain the best public health measure to protect people from COVID-19, slow transmission, and reduce the likelihood of new variants emerging.

 

COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death.

Scientists are currently investigating Omicron, including how protected fully vaccinated people will be against infection, hospitalization, and death.

CDC recommends that everyone 5 years and older protect themselves from COVID-19 by getting fully vaccinated.

CDC recommends that everyone ages 18 years and older should get a booster shot at least two months after their initial J&J/Janssen vaccine or six months after completing their primary COVID-19 vaccination series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

Masks

Masks offer protection against all variants.

 

CDC continues to recommend wearing a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high community transmission, regardless of vaccination status.

CDC provides advice about masks for people who want to learn more about what type of mask is right for them depending on their circumstances.

Testing

Tests can tell you if you are currently infected with COVID-19.

 

Two types of tests are used to test for current infection: nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and antigen tests. NAAT and antigen tests can only tell you if you have a current infection.

Individuals can use the COVID-19 Viral Testing Tool to help determine what kind of test to seek.

Omicron: All about Omicron

Additional tests would be needed to determine if your infection was caused by Omicron.

Visit your state, tribal, local, or territorial health department’s website to look for the latest local information on testing.

Self-tests can be used at home or anywhere, are easy to use, and produce rapid results.

If your self-test has a positive result, stay home or isolate for 10 days, wear a mask if you have contact with others, and call your healthcare provider.

If you have any questions about your self-test result, call your healthcare provider or public health department.

Until we know more about the risk of Omicron, it is important to use all tools available to protect yourself and others.

 

What CDC is Doing to Learn about Omicron

Virus Characteristics

CDC scientists are working with partners to gather data and virus samples that can be studied to answer important questions about the Omicron variant. Scientific experiments have already started. CDC will provide updates as soon as possible.

 

Variant Surveillance

In the United States, CDC uses genomic surveillance to track variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 to more quickly identify and act upon these findings to best protect the public’s health. CDC established multiple ways to connect and share genomic sequence data being produced by CDC, public health laboratories, and commercial diagnostic laboratories within publicly accessible databases maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Informationexternal icon (NCBI) and the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Dataexternal icon (GISAID). If a variant is circulating at 0.1% frequency, there is a >99% chance that it will be detected in CDC’s national genomic surveillance.

 

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Science Brief: Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant

On November 24, 2021, South Africa reported the identification of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, B.1.1.529, to the World Health Organization (WHO). B.1.1.529 was first detected in specimens collected on November 11, 2021 in Botswana and on November 14, 2021 in South Africa.

 

Emergence of Omicron

CDC has been using genomic surveillance throughout the course of the pandemic to track variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and inform public health practice.

 

November 24, 2021: A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.529, was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). This new variant was first detected in specimens collected on November 11, 2021 in Botswana and on November 14, 2021 in South Africa.

November 26, 2021: WHO named the B.1.1.529 Omicron and classified it as a Variant of Concern (VOC).

November 30, 2021: The United States designated Omicron as a Variant of Concern.

December 1, 2021: The first confirmed U.S. case of Omicron was identified.

 

The data on Omicron is still too sparse to allow us to make clear predictions on the exact nature of this new variant, but we know enough about this strain to understand its essential meaning. Omicron is sending a message, loud and clear: this virus is capable of far more changes and far more variation than most ever thought possible and it will keep coming back to haunt us again and again.

 

From an evolutionary biology point of view, Omicron was to be expected. Coronaviruses in general have adapted to develop a wide variety of strategies to continue their replication and to infect and reinfect multiple species over millions of years. Coronaviruses evolved in bats and other long-lived, highly immunocompetent creatures. To survive, the virus had to learn a wealth of tricks — dampening immunity, evading early immune defenses, and shapeshifting to allow for multiple reinfections. Bats, in behavior at least, are a species quite similar to humans, living in densely packed communities but able to travel from one community to another, interacting with other animals and species along the way. Coronaviruses have learned how to thrive not only in a host species but how to infect neighboring species as well.

 

At least seven coronaviruses have made the jump from animals to humans, but SARS-CoV-2 has shown that it can make the jump back into animals to reemerge and invade us again — a process called reverse zoonosis. But that’s not all this virus can do. If we look closely at the genomes of the coronaviruses that have emerged from bats and other species, we see that these viruses can readily recombine amongst each other, in addition to the point mutations we have seen in Omicron and in other known SARS-CoV-2 variants. Recombination, we know from influenza, can lead very quickly to much more virulent variants by picking up components that our immune systems have not previously seen.

 

Omicron: All about Omicron

What is the COVID-19 variant Omicron?

Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has been identified initially in COVID-19 patients in Botswana and South Africa.

 

Is COVID-19 variant Omicron worse than Delta variant?

Anthony Fauci claimed that while it would take weeks to judge the severity of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, early indications suggested it was not worse than prior strains, and possibly milder.

 

Is Omicron virus in India?

As of 21 December 2021, India has reported 200 cases of Omicron (Coronavirus). Of 200 cases, 123 cases are active, and the remaining 77 have been discharged or recovered.

 

How many cases in India of Omicron?

India has reported a total of 415 Omicron cases, the Health Ministry said this morning. At least 115 have recovered, it said. Maharashtra has the highest number of Omicron infection with 108, followed by Delhi with 79.

 

 

 

Australia on Monday reported its first confirmed death from the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 amid another surge in daily infections, but the authorities refrained from imposing new restrictions saying hospitalisation rates remained low.

The death, a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions, marked a grim milestone for the country which has had to pause some parts of a staged reopening after nearly two years of stop-start lockdowns, due to the fresh outbreak.

 

Omicron, which health experts say appears more contagious but less virulent than previous strains, began to spread in the country just as it lifted restrictions on most domestic borders and allowed Australians to return from overseas without quarantine, driving case numbers to the highest of the pandemic.

 

The authorities gave no additional details about the Omicron death, except to say that the man caught the virus at an aged care facility and died in a Sydney hospital.

 

"This was the first known death in New South Wales (state) linked to the Omicron variant of concern," said NSW Health epidemiologist Christine Selvey in a video released by the government.

 

The man was among six COVID-19 deaths reported in Australia the previous day, all in the most populous states of NSW and Victoria, which are home to more than half the country's 25 million population.

 

 

"Although we are seeing increased case numbers... we are not seeing the impacts on our hospital system," said Annastacia Palaszczuk, premier of Queensland which reported 784 new cases with four people in hospital.

 

With reports of six-hour wait times for COVID testing for people hoping to meet requirements for interstate holiday travel, Palaszczuk defended the tourism-friendly state for mandatory testing, saying "everyone knew when they booked a ticket that if they wanted to come here they would have to do a PCR test".

 

"We need to make sure that we're protecting (Queenslanders)," she said.

 

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Australian authorities have so far resisted a return to lockdown in the face of surging case numbers but have reinstated some restrictions. On Monday, NSW again made it compulsory to check into public venues with QR codes, while many states have brought back mandatory mask-wearing in indoor public places.

 

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