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Omicron – the light at the end of the tunnel?
BR Research
10 Jan 2022
The Omicron threat has engulfed the world in less than a month. Just when many were hoping that the pandemic has eased especially at home, the new variant of coronavirus has hit the world with a vengeance – at least with the number of daily positive cases. The new variant first discovered in South Africa has driven Covid infection to record breaking levels in more than quarter of the countries, across the world including USA, UK, Italy, Australia and many more. US alone saw over10 million reporting positive last week – its highest daily positive cases. In Pakistan, the wave is just starting, and many also opine that this could be the country’s sharpest and highest peaking wave due to factors like the wedding season in December and the festivities and gathering that accompanied.
Amid the scare that the new variant has created, experts, scientists and doctors have pointed to a hope at the end of the tunnel. Their main assumption is that when the virus has spread this fast, it has no place to go to infect, which decreases transmissibility -sort of herd immunity. This is why Omicron is being called the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
However, as of right now, the rising caseload and the pressure on healthcare systems around the globe are more than enough to blur the silver lining. Many also say that there’s a storm waiting right before the calm (the end of the pandemic); that is to say that one of the largest waves is expected to engulf the population before it subsides, which can be seen from the record breaking number of cases of omicron around the world.
But since the transmissibility is high and wide, it’s is expected that cases will peak quickly and also fall down quickly – the whole cycle lasting maximum three months from Dec-Feb. As of now, cases are only peaking in countries accords the world; are seeing increased hospitalization, where fortune of the healthcare system again depends on flattening the infection curve. But if the infection rate and trend in South Africa where Omicron was first identified is of any extrapolative importance, the argument that the rise and fall of Omicron will be quick holds some weight.
There definitely was a reason for not naming the new variant Omega – the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet meaning the extreme or final part. While experts and doctors have shown some optimism, Covid isn’t going away completely this soon. The new wave might make it more acceptable for learning to live with the virus, but the emergence of variants, and its spread has not been ruled out at all. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead recently said that we can end the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 as we have tools at hand now. So the only way to achieve this is accessible, equitable and rampant vaccination along with masking.
BR Research
10 Jan 2022
The Omicron threat has engulfed the world in less than a month. Just when many were hoping that the pandemic has eased especially at home, the new variant of coronavirus has hit the world with a vengeance – at least with the number of daily positive cases. The new variant first discovered in South Africa has driven Covid infection to record breaking levels in more than quarter of the countries, across the world including USA, UK, Italy, Australia and many more. US alone saw over10 million reporting positive last week – its highest daily positive cases. In Pakistan, the wave is just starting, and many also opine that this could be the country’s sharpest and highest peaking wave due to factors like the wedding season in December and the festivities and gathering that accompanied.
Amid the scare that the new variant has created, experts, scientists and doctors have pointed to a hope at the end of the tunnel. Their main assumption is that when the virus has spread this fast, it has no place to go to infect, which decreases transmissibility -sort of herd immunity. This is why Omicron is being called the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
However, as of right now, the rising caseload and the pressure on healthcare systems around the globe are more than enough to blur the silver lining. Many also say that there’s a storm waiting right before the calm (the end of the pandemic); that is to say that one of the largest waves is expected to engulf the population before it subsides, which can be seen from the record breaking number of cases of omicron around the world.
But since the transmissibility is high and wide, it’s is expected that cases will peak quickly and also fall down quickly – the whole cycle lasting maximum three months from Dec-Feb. As of now, cases are only peaking in countries accords the world; are seeing increased hospitalization, where fortune of the healthcare system again depends on flattening the infection curve. But if the infection rate and trend in South Africa where Omicron was first identified is of any extrapolative importance, the argument that the rise and fall of Omicron will be quick holds some weight.
There definitely was a reason for not naming the new variant Omega – the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet meaning the extreme or final part. While experts and doctors have shown some optimism, Covid isn’t going away completely this soon. The new wave might make it more acceptable for learning to live with the virus, but the emergence of variants, and its spread has not been ruled out at all. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead recently said that we can end the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 as we have tools at hand now. So the only way to achieve this is accessible, equitable and rampant vaccination along with masking.
