Tag: Omicron Covid Variant

WHO's director of emergencies, Michael Ryan warned that as the virus continues to evolve, the world "cannot simply afford to lose sight of it".

BA.2 has started outcompeting BA.1, suggesting that it is more transmissible than the original Omicron, the researchers said.

Odisha today registered its highest one-day spike in the Covid cases in the last seven months detecting 8,778 infections, including 792 cases in the 0-18 years category in the past 24 hours.

Last week, Europe and central Asia saw 27,000 additional Covid-19 deaths and 2.6 million new cases.

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that humanity "could be entering the worst part of the pandemic" as the Omicron variant spreads fast across the globe, stressing that Omicron will "hit home for all of us".

The ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE, Dibrugarh has developed a novel technology -- real-time RT-PCR assay for detection of Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV2 and a kit for the same.

According to the global health body, the hyper mutant variant has spread to 77 countries so far.

Closing of schools across the world should be the last resort in the fight against the fast-spreading Omicron Covid-19 variant, outgoing Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

The study was conducted using AlphaFold2 - a neural network-based deep learning model created by Google DeepMind - which can predict protein structure based on the genetic code.

The State Health Department said more than 800 non-resident Odias (NROs) have landed in the State from Omicron hit countries. Out of them, the government does not have information about 320 returnees which comprises 40 per cent of the total arrivals.

The Omicron variant has been dubbed 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

Many of the changes have been found in variants such as Delta and Alpha, and are linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

Officials briefed the prime minister about the new Variant of Concern Omicron along with its characteristics and the impact seen in various countries, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Countries must enhance surveillance and sequencing. They should assess the risk of importation through international travel based on updated information on circulating variants and response capacities, and take measures accordingly.