BREAKING! WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan Tells Media That Omicron Is Very Transmissible! Warning: Omicron Is Still Evolving!
Source: Omicron Updates Dec 03, 2021 2 years, 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 23 hours, 34 minutes ago
Omicron Updates: The WHO or World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said the new coronavirus variant Omicron is very transmissible.
Dr Swaminathan said during an interview at the Reuters Next conference late today that the right response was to be prepared and cautious and not to panic in face of the new variant.
When asked by media as to “How worried should we be? She replied, “We need to be prepared and cautious, not panic, because we’re in a different situation to a year ago.”
Omicron Updates: Switzerland Places 2,000 People In Quarantine After Two Omicron Cases Emerge.
It was reported that Swiss health authorities have placed 2,000 people under quarantine for ten days after two cases of the Omicron variant were detected at the International School of Geneva.
In all a total of 2,000 students and campus staff have been instructed to quarantine, which includes 1,600 children.
Geneva health authorities said in a statement on Thursday, “All those involved must also take a PCR test. Parents and siblings of the students concerned must also take a screening test in order to detect the possible presence of the Omicron variant as soon as possible. This is the first measure of this magnitude.”
The Swiss health department said the two cases of Omicron are linked to a family with a member that had returned from a trip to South Africa.
As of now, Switzerland has identified a handful of cases of the new variant spread across five cantons and imposed travel bans from southern Africa and quarantine requirements on arrivals from 23 countries including Japan, Britain, and Canada.
The emergence of the Omicron variant in Switzerland now brings the total number of countries outside of the African with the Omicron variant to 29, including Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, United Kingdom and the United States.
In the African continent, a total of 10 countries have Omicron variant including South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Malawi and Zimbabwe was the latest. Another 22 out of the 54 countries in the African continent have suspected cases of infection by the Omicron variant and are pending confirmations via genomic sequencings.
In all a total of 39 countries across the globe has the Omicron variant now!
The Swiss health department issues a statement, “Only a few rare, imported cases have been identified in Switzerland so far. It is essential to slow down the introduction of the variant in our territory.”
Geneva is home to the World Health Organization (WHO), which last week classified Omicron as a variant of concern.
Researchers Warn That Omicron Is Still Evolvi
ng And Subvariants May Appear!
Meanwhile a few scientists and researchers from the United States, UK and Germany are warning that the even the new Omicron is still evolving and new sub-variants emerging from it are very likely. They warn that the usage of new monoclonal and polyclonal drugs and other antibody-based therapeutics could cause even more potent and virulent sub-variants of Omicron to emerge and insist that the focus should be on a range of antiviral combos to treat to stop the disease.
2022 Will Be The Year Of More Potent SARS-CoV-2 Variants, More Re-infections And Co-infections, More Deaths And WITH ADE and Viral Priming As Buzzwords.
Thailand Medical News predicts that 2022 will the year we hear of more potent, more transmissible and totally immune evasive variants and reassortant strains emerging that will change the course of the COVID-19 pandemic badly.
There will be more re-infections, breakthrough infections, more co-infections with more than one variant and we will hear more about ADE (antibody dependent enhancement) and also more about viral priming.
It will be a year of more deaths, more infections and more medical conditions arising form Long COVID and the emergence of different types of cancers associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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