Omicron Covid variant spreads 'more than twice as fast' as Delta

 

Scientists in south Africa say the new omicron variant of the coronavirus appears to spread more than twice as quickly as delta which has so far been the most contagious the analysis hasn’t been peer reviewed and the researchers say that there is a lot of uncertainty cases are being reported all over the world now including among fully vaccinated people the if is warning that the variance emergence is likely to hinder the global economic recovery makluba has the latest it’s spreading right around the world in south Africa’s province most affected by omicron officials now say it's the dominant variant appearing to spread more than twice as fast as the delta variant there's over a hundred recorded cases in the up dozens in over  other countries as day by day it emerges in more with doubt about how vaccines will react to it stock markets around the world fell days after it was outed they've rebounded but now comes this warning from the miffed are likely to see some downgrades of our October projections for global growth scientists who first identified it decided these mutations were in a class of their own it's kind of like you know a bank robber who the FBI has a picture of um you know maybe they grew out of mustache dyed their hair and they’re always wearing sunglasses and hue beardist’s it's it's to be a little harder for your immune system to recognize because of changes to the viruses spike protein which is the part of the virus that vaccines train our immune response to defend us from plus the fact that it's spreading like wildfire around the world with its spread said to be unwittingly helped by amongst others foreign diplomats who flew into Botswana on the second week of November crowds at the pop band steps ‘concert in Glasgow two weeks later and a renewable energy company’s Christmas party at this restaurant in Norway last week but again no reason to panic because scientists say the good news is how quickly omicron was declared a variant of concern after it was discovered according to the medical journal the lancet the earliest known case is a patient in south Africa who was diagnosed with covid on the of November less than four weeks on from that pharmaceutical companies are already working on multiple contingency plans one is to rev up the production of the vaccines that they already have the next is to make for example ambivalent where you have the vaccine against both the ancestral strain and the new variant and the other is to make variant specific boost but  days since it was reported to the world health organization big questions remain such as how infectious is it does it cause more severe disease or could it be a milder variant that takes over and could that spell the beginning of the end of the pandemic and on a lighter note how should omicron or omicron be pronounced mark global news doctors in England have been told that they can defer some of the services they provide to patients so they can concentrate instead on delivering sodbuster jabs routine health checks for the over s and minor surgery could be affected  new cases of the omicron variant have now been identified in England that brings the total number in the up to . ministers have also launched a new campaign urging all vaccine unvaccinated pregnant women to come forward and receive their jab laserdiscs has this new life amid the heartache of colitis little boy born with the illness and rushed to chis mother had to be incubated now she’s part of a government campaign encouraging pregnant women to get jabbed was about  to  weeks pregnant at that stage um when we both when we both got carved I had a conversation with one of the consultants on ice that it would be best to ventilate me just to give my lungs a rest but you know my family lived through every day they lived through the phone calls are being told that unexcused me sorry um that I may not survive um  when tenvija got ill in February vaccines weren't available to her now that they are the government won't all expectant women to get immunized nearly one in five cubit patients in England who are the most critically ill are unvaccinated pregnant women of those pregnant women in hospital with symptomatic covert  nearly all are unvaccinated and crucially no vaccinated pregnant women were admitted into intensive care with covert  in England between February and the end of September meanwhile n’s England says all adults should become eligible for boosters by the middle of this month as it tries to protect against the non-variant got it at the first opportunity could I think it's important that everyone gets their vaccine I think it’s important that everybody tries to get it as quickly as possible nobody’s confident because we don't know after omega who's going to come next so we just hope and pray that everybody be well it’s that concern about the unknown which is driving the push to get as many boosters done as possible and in England and Scotland the aim is for all eligible adults to be offered one by the end of January