Omicron – a new strain of coronavirus

The WHO, the World Health Organization, issued a statement a few days ago about the existence of a new strain of coronavirus called Omicron. According to the WHO, the new strain is worrying because the virus has drastically mutated and the strain itself has more than fifty mutations. The concern is about the action of the new strain, which is much easier to transmit and thus creates a higher degree of infectivity, and how effective the vaccines are on the action of the new strain.

Mutations are a normal occurrence in viruses, because the virus thus struggles to survive by creating new ways to better adapt to its host and spread further to the new host. As the virus spreads, it develops into new variants by mutating, and when the structure of the virus changes significantly, a new strain of coronavirus is formed.

Omicron is a new strain of coronavirus named after the Greek alphabet of the 15th letter, and in the same way the previous strains got their name as Alpha and Delta. The official designation given to this strain of coronavirus was B. 1.1.529 which indicates the highest hazard category and this strain is the fifth strain to be detected as a significant change in virus structure and impact on virus spread and strength.

 

Omicron where a new strain appeared

Omicron, a new strain of coronavirus, has appeared in southern Africa and Hong Kong for the most part, but the first cases are already appearing in Belgium and Israel. This new strain is worrying because of its change in the structure of the protein in the virus itself, which the vaccine targets in order to protect the human body.

European Union countries, the United Kingdom and the United States have already introduced additional measures when entering the country for travelers coming from these areas regardless of symptoms, persons must be in a 14-day quarantine to prevent the virus from spreading. Scientists are still unsure whether existing PCR tests respond to all 50 mutations the new strain has, and countries have introduced new rules for entering certain countries as a precaution because they believe quarantine is the only way to stop the spread of the new strain.

Since the new strain was officially confirmed on November 24, it will take weeks for scientists to determine in more detail the effectiveness of the vaccine on the new strain, and all the details about transmission, re-infection and the way it spreads. Omicron a new strain of coronavirus.

Difference of Omicron strain and Delta strain of coronavirus

Scientists first determined that the main difference between the most widespread Delta strain of coronavirus and the new strain Omicron is that the new strain has about fifty mutations and about thirty mutations on the protein spike that is important because of the vaccine. It is the protein spike that the virus uses to enter the cells of the human body.

The difference between Omicron and Delta strain of coronavirus is in the domain of receptors and their binding, in Omicron there are ten mutations while in Delta strain there are only two. In this way, the new strain has the ability to spread faster, and it is unknown how many vaccines affect the new strain an additional risk because it has already been found that the new strain has a much higher chance of re-infection than the Delta coronavirus strain.

The delta strain is characterized to attack young people and can have a fatal effect on young human organisms that do not have any other diseases and lead to a fatal outcome, death in younger populations. The new fifth strain is even more dangerous due to the number of mutations it has, the possibility of re-infection and ignorance of the impact of the vaccine in terms of protection. Pharmaceutical companies have urgently begun research and refinement of existing vaccines to protect humanity from new strains.