A computer-generated picture of the Omicron variant. Via NPR. (Uma Shankar sharma/Getty Images)
The Omicron variant (by October 2021), aka B.1.1.529, is the latest “variant of concern” of covid-19, the coronavirus disease that swept the world in 2020, causing the pandemic that is still with us. In South Africa, Omicron is spreading faster than even the Delta variant, even among young people! Most people reading this will likely encounter the new strain within the next few months. By yesterday (December 1st 2021) it had reached the US.
Symptons appear in 2 to 14 days, among them:
- fevers or chills,
- cough,
- shortness of breath,
- tiredness,
- headache and body aches,
- loss of taste or smell,
- sore throat,
- congestion or runny nose,
- nausea or vomiting,
- diarrhoea.
Pretty standard stuff for covid-19.
So far it seems to be no deadlier than the Delta variant. Some who have received the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines have caught the Omicron variant, but so far only with mild symptoms. The key phrase is “so far”. While this fits what we know about the genetics (most of the changes are to the spike proteins, which would make it more contagious, but not deadlier), there is not yet enough empirical data to draw firm conclusions. But:
In the next few weeks it will become clear just how contagious and deadly the new variant is and how well the current vaccines stand up to it. Pfizer says it could whip up a new vaccine and get it to pharmacies by March. That sounds quick, but Omicron might be quicker.
Origins: Its nearest known relative is from the middle of 2020, yet it has dozens of mutations or changes in its genetic code. Where was it all that time? No one yet knows for sure, but most likely it was inside one of the millions of people in southern Africa who have HIV but are not receiving proper medical treatment. Since they have weak immune systems, their bodies cannot completely kill off covid-19, allowing it to mutate endlessly.
It was discovered by scientists in South Africa – even though it was already present in the Netherlands and Nigeria. For its pains (and un-Chinese-like transparency), South Africa was slapped with a blanket travel ban by the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and others.
President Ramaphosa of South Africa:
“The emergence of the Omicron variant should be a wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue. Until everyone is vaccinated, everyone will continue to be at risk. Instead of prohibiting travel, the rich countries of the world need to support the efforts of developing countries – economies, that is – to access and to manufacture enough vaccine doses for their people without delay.”
Africa: Only 7% of Africa’s 1.3 billion or so people have been vaccinated. As long as it has low rates of vaccination, it will continue to produce variants. Last year it was Beta, this year Omicron. And next year? The main thing standing in the way of vaccinating most of Africa is the US government’s defence of the intellectual property rights of its big drug companies. Something it did with AIDS as millions died.
See also:
- germs, the last 13,000 years
- pandemic
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Abagond 
Omicron was already in Europe before it was detected in South Africa. Shades of the “Wuhan” virus! Where’s my favorite debating partner Origin, I miss his inanities.
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My personal opinion is that it will take considerable time to determine where the original virus and the variants arose. As I’ve said elsewhere, it took years to figure out where and when HIV originated. I think many of the regular commenters are old enough to remember when doctors and researchers alike assumed HIV originated in San Francisco.
“Pfizer says it could whip up a new vaccine and get it to pharmacies by March. That sounds quick, but Omicron might be quicker.”
Didn’t Pfizer say somthing similar about Delta?
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“My personal opinion is that it will take considerable time to determine where the original virus and the variants arose.”
Correct. The same applies for the Wuhan, Delta and any other variants. My old ‘friend’ Origin seemed unable to grasp that truth and wrote tons of nonsense about a virus breaking out of the Wuhan lab.
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I do not want to get in an argument with you about this, but I also would like it to be clear that I’m not taking a side in your disagreement with Origin.
Who knows, covid-19 may turn out to be the first offensive strike by our soon-to-be overlords from Alpha Centuri. How’s that for some nonsense? 😉
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Why do you recoil when I compliment you? I never claimed you took my side, I would expect the opposite. Relax, I’m not trying to recruit you to anything. I’ve always maintained that nobody knows where Covid-19 originated. I’m still waiting for Origin to provide proof that it was from the Wuhan lab.
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Dude, did you see the picture here? 🔽 That was for you. 🎁
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/calvin/comment-page-1/#comment-572744
I’m not recoiling, I just have had the feeling all today you’re in the mood to debate. I want to save my energy for that Kruger fanboy should he return.
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“Dude, did you see the picture here? 🔽 That was for you. ”
Dude, it was cute.
“I’m not recoiling, I just have had the feeling all today you’re in the mood to debate.”
There’s a name for that, a self-fulfilling prophesy. The only person I wanted to debate on Covid-19 variants is my old debating partner Origin, I’m a little nostalgic for our marathon debates.
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People like you wish for the Omricon variant to be more deadlier than Delta so the government can screw the world again by shifting the goal posts and giving us more endless lockdowns. Deep down, you love to see conservatives protesting against this madness and getting f*cked by the government. It turns you on. That’s your disgusting authoritarian psychology unfortunately. Bet your next post is going to be one calling people who think the Omricon variant is milder than Delta as ‘conspiracy theorists’ despite scientists coming out and saying Omricon is milder (https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/current-affairs/omicron-is-milder-than-delta-variant-at-primary-level-s-african-doctor-121120300043_1.html).
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Origin, is that you, why are you using a new moniker, where’s the wit and poetry I’ve come to expect from you? How’s “sloppy Steve” doing now that he has been indicted?
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Funny how this strain comes around when that bs mandate is to be enforced
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@ Xi Jinping
Show me where any of that is actually in the blog post.
Abagond’s main point here is the need to drastically increase vaccination rates in the developing world, especially in Africa. I notice you had nothing to say about that.
Do you realize the higher the global vaccination rates, the sooner lockdowns will become unnecessary?
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https://nypost.com/2021/10/21/nih-admits-us-funded-gain-of-function-in-wuhan-despite-faucis-repeated-denials/
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To Xi Jinping:
Xi Jinping said:
“People like you wish for the Omricon variant to be more deadlier than Delta so the government can screw the world again by shifting the goal posts and giving us more endless lockdowns.”
I don’t necessarily agree with Abagond’s take on the Omicron variant but nowhere did he imply any of the above in his post.
Xi Jinping said:
“It turns you on. That’s your disgusting authoritarian psychology unfortunately.”
Ummm…. you’re flying past Pluto now, leaving the solar system.
Xi Jinping said:
“Omricon variant is milder than Delta as ‘conspiracy theorists’ despite scientists coming out and saying Omricon is milder…”
Much too early and speculative at this point, we probably won’t good data for a weeks yet, albeit if this is accurate then obviously it’s good news.
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Holy shit the number of people lost and delusional is so sad. This virus is literally symbolic of the state of affairs we are in globally. There is no consensus only belief, which will only be our end at this point. I blame FB and social media for reinforcing the beliefs of those misguided. There is objective truth but one side fails to see it.
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The Olympics? I do enjoy watching the biathlon but I but group ain’t got nothin to say about this and I bet he got Pfizer
https://fortune.com/2021/07/16/china-mrna-vaccine-pfizer-biontech-fosun-doses/
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The fact that only 7% of the people are vaccinated shows that this virus isn’t serious and that it isn’t spreading like wildfire among the “unvaccinated” like they have been propagandizing on the news in the US. More importantly its weaker among the other variants so there shouldn’t be an increase or forced vaccination there. Dr. Haruo Ozaki, chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, had taken notice of the low number of infections and deaths in Africa where many use ivermectin prophylactically and as the core strategy to treat onchocerciasis, a parasitic disease also known as river blindness. More than 99% of people infected live in 31 African countries. Other medications that are commonly available in Africa have also demonstrated effectiveness against COVID-19. For example, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have long been used in the treatment and prevention of malaria.
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@ John Smith
Sir, you say a lot of things about the novel coronavirus and its last variant, omicron in relation to the continent of Africa, that I disagree completely.
Maybe you are not aware that, despite this blog being centered on issues of the USA and its Black community, there are some contributors who come from other latitudes. I live in Africa and since my youth I have realized that this “dark continent” is very far from the minds and thoughts of many outside of it. As a consequence, in the middle of a conversation, some can throw anything, from the most prosaic to the most bizarre, and pretend it to be something related or describing accurately real things about the continent. Be aware, we are watching…
Let’s go to details…
Really? “in Africa where many use ivermectin prophylactically and as the core strategy to treat onchocerciasis, a parasitic disease also known as river blindness.”
Are you saying that a high percentage of the African population live in conditions prone to river blindness? Are you serious? As I said before, I live in an African country and I took notice of that disease by reading, not because somebody in my “very extended family” were sometime, somewhere, exposed to that disease. Please review a little bit more seriously this topic of “river blindness” because otherwise you are speaking nonsense. And by the way, I don’t care if Mr. Ozaki told that or not. It’s not about what somebody said but about the reality.
I followed closely some members of my “very extended family” during this last 20 months or so and a few fall ill of Covid-19. So far to none of them was prescribed Ivermectin during the recovery. None. The standard way of helping those people resorted to a cocktail of drugs with Azithromycin at the center and a mix of other drugs as well as vitamin complements, in order to reinforce the immune system in its battle against the viral load.
Wow! 99% of people infected live in 31 african countries.
But, are you really, really serious? And how could the continent NOT be then in a calamitous state?
But… Are you speaking about the old variant or the newer one? If you mean the newer one, I must remind you that we are at its beginning. Let’s wait and see…
If you mean whole versions combined, I comment below about that!
By your wording it seems that what you mean is “More than 99% of people who have been infected live in 31 African countries.”. Covid-19, differently of HIV-AIDS, once infects you, will not be with you forever. At some point there is an exit: you die or you survive (=you get cured). I think you are summing all the people who at some point got trapped by the novel coronavirus. Most of them exited the disease by becoming cured.
The reason why there are visible discrepancies between Africa and Europe, for example, can be summed up in a few factors:
— a) the difference in the population pyramids,
— b) the fact that being poorer than Europeans, the people in the continent of Africa tend to have a sober diet, where sugar and specially beef are less prevalent, and therefore, some “diseases of the rich” are less frequent too.
Look at the data in the CIA Factbook in two entries, for example, Mozambique (Africa) and Portugal (Europe) under the topics of “Age structure” and “Obesity” and you will notice immediately that:
— 1) Total population. Mozambique about 30 million and Portugal about 10 million; that means that Mozambique has 3 times the population of Portugal
— 2) Age structure. Mozambique has about 3% people “65 years and over”, this is, less than 1 million whereas Portugal has about 21% people “65 years and over”, this is, slightly more than 2 million.
— 3) Obesity. Mozambique has circa 7% obese individuals whereas Portugal has 21%.
Remember: the novel coronavirus search for people who are either old enough (preferably over 65 years) or with “other underlying conditions” (obesity, diabetes, etc). Despite the fact that Mozambicans are 3 time more numerous than the Portuguese, that virus finds more hospitable conditions in persons of the European country.
Climatic conditions may also probably play some role. Some researchers speak about the important role played by vitamin “D” in the immune system and how the natural exposition to sunshine can be a good replacement of that (of taking the vitamin through your diet!).
Another issue is, obviously, the fact that the systems of detection of positive cases is more encompassing in Portugal than in Mozambique because the former is a more advanced society than the latter.
Regarding the drugs used to combat malaria, in Mozambique today, as an example of an African country, they use Artemether-Lumefantrine and not other drugs you cited above.
It’s true that Chloroquine was used in the past, but it was discontinued, many years ago (drug resistance or something related to it). To my knowledge, it was never tried to treat Covid-19.
I see that you are against vaccines. Hear me: don´t be a fool, the phantom of the opera… gulp, I mean, the ghost of the death is waiting the unwise around the corner. Think again!
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@ munubantu
Well said!
J. Smith’s comment was bizarre to say the least.
Loved this passage:
Nothing like sunlight on a cloudy day.
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Originally I also thought John Smith was referring to covid-19 with his 99% remark, but after a little digging, I believe he was actually talking about onchocerciasis.
That figure appears to come from this WHO fact sheet:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/onchocerciasis
“More than 99% of infected people live in 31 African countries. The disease also exists in some foci in Latin America and Yemen.”
However, John Smith’s conclusions are still tenuous at best. According to the fact sheet, community treatment with ivermectin is discontinued once a transmission area is declared free of onchocerciasis. The goal is to eliminate the need for ivermectin, not to take it prophylactically for life.
The Wikipedia page does a much better job of explaining that even in these 31 African nations, onchocerciasis is not widespread but instead found only in certain regions known as transmission areas. For example, transmission areas may encompass rural villages along a river, whereas in the large cities of the same nation, or in drier parts of the countryside, onchocerciasis may be virtually unheard of. John Smith made it sound as if most of the population of these countries are taking ivermectin regularly, but this is not actually the case.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerciasis
The Wikipedia page also mentions there is growing concern that the parasite is becoming resistant to ivermectin, which in recent years has led an increasing number of programs to switch to different medications. (There are links to medical studies and scientific research papers in the references.)
Finally, the global number of onchocerciasis infections is around 15.5 million. Covid-19 is currently at over 270 million confirmed cases worldwide.
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Also, according to the World Health Organization, the covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the onchocerciasis elimination programs (i.e., fewer people in Africa have been receiving ivermectin treatments for onchocerciasis during the last ~2 years):
https://www.who.int/news/item/24-09-2021-neglected-tropical-diseases-2020-preventive-chemotherapy-treatment-coverage-declines-due-to-covid-19-disruptions
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For those who are interested, the following link is apparently the scientific paper which inspired Haruo Ozaki’s remarks:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7968425/#!po=33.1633
It does not strike me as anywhere near conclusive, which even the authors point out. For example, the fact that South Africa has a higher morbidity rate than African countries which participated in the ivermectin treatment program could be due to the factors Munubantu mentioned, since South Africa also has a comparatively older population, etc.
Apparently some of the right-wing fringe in the USA have been “misinterpreting” Haruo Ozaki’s statements to mean that Japan has stopped all covid-19 vaccination programs in favor of ivermectin — neither of which is true:
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/11/scicheck-japan-continues-to-use-vaccines-not-ivermectin-to-fight-covid-19/
In other words, John Smith is another run-of-the-mill covidiot spreading conspiracy theories and lies.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/monica-gandhi-and-michael-wilkes-a-year-with-covid-vaccines-and-we-re-not-even-close-to-ending-global-pandemic/ar-AARNZW8?ocid=uxbndlbing
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Omicron should not be named Omega instead?
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, given its tendency to outpace all previous variants and to cause mainly mild to moderate disease, can well be the last stroke of that virus.
This is a possibility raised by Dr. John Campbell, a British physician, in his Youtube channel dedicated to quasi-daily reflections about the current Covid-19 pandemic.
And in the midst of the avalanche of bad, almost apocalyptic, news seen today, as the pandemic hits the highest peaks of infections literally everywhere, it’s good to look deeper at the science of this disease and come to alternative conclusions regarding the longer prospects of its development.
See more details at ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDBJBmlvXY ), entitled “Omicron science, good news – New science explains South Africa’s low rates of omicron severe disease”
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Here we are again,
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.html
And this devil wants to be with us much longer than expected*.
Predicted increased severity with BA.2 sub-variant of Covid-19 Omicron.
So, we are back to delta variant severity coupled with omicron variant transmissibility, and this frightening combination will likely launch the next wave of Covid-19 worldwide.
Notes –
* I must retract from my previous statement regarding the end of the pandemic. As it is, with this new sub-variant, no end of the pandemic in sight.
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@ Munubantu
That last paragraph really is a kick in the gut because the big covid story in the news last week was how many places in the USA are lifting mask mandates and social distancing requirements. Many of those news articles talked quite optimistically about how case numbers were decreasing and the Omicron wave probably would soon be over.
In their rush to get back to normal, people keep making it easier for these new variants to spread, ensuring that nothing will be normal for a long time to come.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/13/world/coronavirus-newsletter-intl-07-13-22/index.html
Now is time for BA.5 variant omicron!
Jesus, we are not free yet!
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it’s the new normal
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