Transmission electron micrograph of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle, with the spike proteins in green. Representative image: NIAID/Flickr CC BY 2.0
- An WHO expert group has designated the B.1.1.529 variant ‘omicron’ and classified it as a variant of concern.
- Mutations in the omicron variant’s genome suggest it may be more transmissible, and real-world data suggests it may also cause breakthrough infections.
- But scientists will need a few weeks to know for sure, including – importantly – if the omicron variant also causes more or less severe disease.
- Both the WHO and independent experts around the world have stressed the importance of getting more people vaccinated to prevent an infection surge.
Washington/Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern,” saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.
Preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection and that there had been a “detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology,” it said in a statement after a closed meeting of independent experts who reviewed the data.
Infections in South Africa had risen steeply in recent weeks, coinciding with detection of the variant now designated as omicron, WHO said.
Omicron is the fifth variant to carry such a designation.
“This variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage,” the WHO said.
Current PCR tests continue to successfully detect the variant, it said.
“At this point, implementing travel measures is being cautioned against,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN briefing in Geneva. “The WHO recommends that countries continue to apply a risk-based and scientific approach when implementing travel measures.”
It would take several weeks to determine the variant’s transmissibility and the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics against it, he said, noting that 100 sequences of the variant have been reported so far.
People should continue to wear masks whenever possible, avoid large gatherings, ventilate rooms and maintain hand hygiene, Lindmeier added.
Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergency director, praised South African public health institutions for picking up the signal of the new variant. But he warned that while some countries had systems in place to do this, the situation elsewhere was often unclear.
“So it’s really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here. Especially with relation to South Africa,” he said. “Because we’ve seen in the past, the minute that there is any mention of any kind of variation, then everyone is closing borders and restricting travel.”
Nonetheless, the discovery of the omicron variant triggered global alarm as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.
But epidemiologists echoed the WHO and warned travel curbs may be too late to stop omicron from circulating globally. The new mutations were first discovered in South Africa and have since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.
The US will restrict travel from South Africa and neighbouring countries effective Monday, a senior Biden administration official said.
Going further, Canada said it was closing its borders to those countries, following bans on flights announced by Britain, the European and others.
The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different than the one in the original coronavirus that vaccines are based on, the UK Health Security Agency had said, raising concerns about how current vaccines will fare.
Scientists issued similar warnings.
“This new variant of the COVID-19 virus is very worrying. It is the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen to date,” said Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain’s University of Warwick.
“Some of the mutations that are similar to changes we’ve seen in other variants of concern are associated with enhanced transmissibility and with partial resistance to immunity induced by vaccination or natural infection.”
Those worries pummelled financial markets, especially stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, and oil, which tumbled by about $10 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.5%, its worst day since late October 2020, and European stocks had their worst day in 17 months.
Cruise operators Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line plunged more than 10% each, while shares in United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines slumped almost as much.
‘Most significant variant’
Several other countries including India, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates also toughened travel curbs.
In Geneva the WHO, whose experts on Friday discussed the risks presented by the variant, called B.1.1.529, and designated it ‘omicron’, warned against travel curbs for now.
Richard Lessells, a South Africa-based infectious disease expert, also expressed frustration at travel bans, saying the focus should be on getting more people vaccinated in places that have struggled to access sufficient shots.
“This is why we talked about the risk of vaccine apartheid. This virus can evolve in the absence of adequate levels of vaccination,” he told Reuters.
Less than 7% of people in low-income countries have received their first COVID-19 shot, according to medical and human rights groups. Meanwhile, many developed nations are giving third-dose boosters.
“Failure to help vaccinate sub-Saharan Africa – still barely 4% of the population – left us all exposed to risk of a new, more virulent #COVID variant,” IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva wrote on Twitter. “News of #Omricon is an urgent reminder of why we need to do even more to vaccinate the world.”
Too late for travel curbs?
The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.
One epidemiologist in Hong Kong said it may be too late to tighten travel curbs against the latest variant.
“Most likely this virus is already in other places. And so if we shut the door now, it’s going to be probably too late,” said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.
Discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.
Friday also marked the start of the holiday shopping period in the United States, but stores were less crowded than in years past.
(Reuters – reporting by bureaus across the world; writing by Nick Macfie, Alex Richardson and Lisa Shumaker; editing by John Stonestreet, Toby Chopra, Cynthia Osterman and Daniel Wallis)