Covid-19 has represented every country from the U.S. to Germany to Saudi Arabia to Australia. spread to dozens of countries globally.

Omicron was identified by South African scientists and has since been classified as a disease by the World Health Organization. a “variant of concern” due to a large number of mutationsThis could make the variant more contagious.

Many things remain unknown about this variant. It was originally called B.1.1.529. Researchers investigate whether it can be transmitted more widely, is more deadly, or causes more serious illness and death. They also examine the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics against it.

The emergence of the Omicron variant has prompted some countries to increase border security and raised new concerns about global economic health. In the meantime, global markets have been affected by lower investor sentiment.

Moody’s Ratings Agency said that the Omicron Variant has created new uncertainty at a time when many countries are moving towards some post-pandemic normalcy.  

Moody’s reported on Tuesday that Omicron’s discovery “underlines our belief that the COVID-19 Pandemic continues to pose a threat to health, and is the main source of uncertainty in the global economy as well as a driving force of volatility in the financial markets.”

The Covid pandemic — which started early last year — has seen more than 263 million reported infections globally and over 5.2 million known deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of Wednesday.

Hopkins data revealed that 8 million doses (or more) of Covid vaccine were administered. But many low-income countries — particularly those in Africa — have vaccinated less than 10% of their population, according to statistics by online repository Our World in Data.