IT SEEMS benign when it was first named B.1.1.529, this newly discovered variant of the coronavirus 2019 that causes the disease called COVID-19.
But when the World Health Organization (WHO) ruled that it qualifies to be a "variant of concern," and forthwith renamed it Omicron, the thing immediately took on a more menacing character.
From the initial shock, the world has recovered with resolve to fight this latest manifestation of the evil pandemic, which was first detected in southern Africa.
The wires reported that this classification declares Omicron as one of the most problematic of COVID-19 variants, similar to the dominant Delta, and much more deadly than the old variants called Alpha, Beta and Gamma.
The United Kingdom and Israel were the first countries to ban inbound travel from South Africa. In the Philippines, the Inter-Agency Task Force immediately raised the red flag and prohibited inbound travel from these countries: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini and Mozambique.
It is sad that the news about Omicron came at a time when the Philippines has almost beaten COVID-19, with fewer daily infections being reported as the vaccination program continues.
In a statement, the WHO said, "based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology… the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern (VOC), named Omicron.”
The United Nations health agency said it could take several weeks to complete studies of Omicron to see if there are any changes in transmissibility, severity or implications for Covid vaccines, tests and treatments.
The classification ruling came after a quickly-assembled virtual meeting of the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution. “This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning,” the WHO said, citing weird characteristics that pose a lot of problems. The WHO noted that the first known confirmed Omicron infection was from a specimen gotten last Nov. 9.
Scientists at the WHO were quick to note that all viruses mutate over time, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19 disease.