Where did Omicron Covid variant come from and where is it circulating?
[ad_1]
A doctor wearing PPE watches as he is tested for coronavirus in a drive to test houses-to-houses on July 21st, 2020 in Lima (Peru).
Getty Images News | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — As more cases of the new omicron Covid variant emerge around the world, experts say it’s likely that the variant, first identified in South Africa last week, had already been circulating for some time.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization stated that at least 23 countries in five of six WHO regions had reported cases of omicron. “We expect this number to increase.”
The U.S. became then the 24th country that confirmed its first case. It was first detected in the a fully vaccinated person in North CarolinaThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Wednesday.
There are also other countries who have identifiedThis is the version U.K., France, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, GermanyItaly, Sweden, Denmark and Australia.
The U.S. (U.K.) and EU responded among others to last week’s variant by temporarily suspending all flights from countries in southern Africa or placing strict quarantines on any person arriving from this region.
This move has caused anger in South Africa. It also has drawn criticism from WHO. WHO stated on Wednesday that these reactions may deter countries who sequence and report variants of virus (like South Africa or the U.K., where large Covid variants are found) from being more transparent in the future.
Omicron is circulating for some time?
It’s also known as B.1.1.529, the omicron variation. was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on Nov. 24. The first known sample dated back to Nov. 9.
However, there is increasing evidence that the variant may have been in existence in countries other than South Africa before South Africa’s health officials alerted the public. It is being reported that there are increasing numbers of people who have been affected by the disease, but they do not travel to this region. This suggests that it may be transmitted from one person to another.
Nine cases of suspicious activity have been identified in Scotland (UK) as a result. These incidents were traced to Nov. 20, and the individual involved has no travel history to Southern Africa.
Next Tuesday will be in the Netherlands said it had identified the omicron variant in two test samples taken in the country between Nov. 19 and 23 — before the variant was first reported by South Africa and travel bans came into place. The first case of omicron was believed to have been brought by two South African planes that arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday. There are currently 14 confirmed cases.
Germany reported on Tuesday an omicron in Liepzig from a man who was not currently abroad and had no contact with any other person who has been.
Chair of South African Medical Association, Dr. Angelique coetzee said that the first alarm was raised by her after seeing patients in Nov.18 with unusual symptoms that were slightly different from those of the Delta variant. This is the most severe strain of the virus.
Botswana is one of the affected countries by Western travel bans following the outbreak. On Friday, Botswana said that the variant was first discovered on four foreign nationals entering Botswana on a diplomatic trip on November 7. This happened far before South Africa had reported it. They were not able to identify their home countries.
Not in Africa, but Origin
CNBC received a briefing from WHO’s Africa Office on Thursday. The UN agency’s regional specialists said that it was not known where the omicron variant originated. Also, they criticised restrictive travel restrictions placed on countries in southern Africa.
“Our surveillance system within the global world has not been perfected yet,” said Dr Abdou Salam Gueye during a Thursday press briefing.
“When we detect a variant or virus … usually we’re going to detect it weeks after it started its evolution. When a country discovers that it has a virus, the only thing that we can be sure of is its surveillance system. This is what occurred in South Africa. Therefore, the travel ban should be discouraged even further because it is like an anti-surveillance system.
He stated that it was not surprising that these cases had been discovered in Europe.
It’s not the end of the world. [with]The investigations are ongoing that will allow us to learn more about the virus’ origins,” he said.
His colleague, Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi, a senior virologist in WHO’s Africa office, told CNBC that the number of countries reporting the omicron variant was increasing daily.
“It appears that most of these countries are [reporting omicron cases]”Now,… the origins of this variant are from outside Africa rather than here in Africa. Therefore we do not know how it began and require very strong scientific evidence to further study its molecular evolution.”
Experts from Europe agree with the conclusion that omicron is more widespread than first thought.
CNBC’s Moritz Kraemer told CNBC that Omicron was still not known, and even where it originated.
He noted that “partially this is because of limited sequencing coverage in certain countries and surveillance in other countries”, adding that South Africa’s well-established system for genomic surveillance.
Kraemer indicated that “I don’t believe there has been widespread undetected circulatory for any very long period of time.” He said that the estimated number of countries with both local and imported omicron transmissions is much higher than previously reported.
An early indicator from South Africa suggests that this variant will spread quickly, and experts are expecting it to do so because 74% of the virus genomes sequenced over the past month have been associated with the variant.
Learn more
CNBC spoke Wednesday with Lawrence Young from Warwick University’s molecular oncology department. He said that “it is not surprising that omicron circulates more widely than it has previously been reported.”
Once a variant of the disease is discovered, especially one with a higher risk for spreading, there will be many more cases than just those infected. “That’s infectious disease, especially in an international environment,” he stated.
CNBC spoke with experts to confirm the hypothesis that some epidemiologists had suggested the possibility of the omicron-type variant spreading internationally at the beginning of October.
Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia’s Norwich School of Medicine said that the first known omicron samples were taken in South Africa on Nov. 9. He stated that “clearly, the infection must had circulated a little earlier unless the index patient was the person from whom the variant evolved. But probably not.”
Professor of immunology at Imperial College London Danny Altmann said that he would “certainly agree” it was possible that the Omicron variant spread earlier than November and that it did not originate from South Africa.
It was brought to our attention by rising cases and the excellent sequence around Goateng. [in South Africa]It is not clear that it occurred near the beginning point or at the end of the second week in November.
[ad_2]