Toronto 
World Health Organisation has declared the new COVID-19 strain, B.1.1.529, a variant of concern.
This new variant first detected in South Africa has been named Omicron.
WHO calls SARS-CoV-2 virus a variant of concern if it demonstrates one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance:
- increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; OR
- decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics
- decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics
The variant was first reported to WHO on 24 November 2021. As per the news release, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.
WHO says this variant has a concerning number of mutations and that preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other variants of concern.
The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution met today to review what is known about the #COVID19 variant B.1.1.529.
They advised WHO that it should be designated a Variant of Concern.
WHO has named it Omicron, in line with naming protocols https://t.co/bSbVas9yds pic.twitter.com/Gev1zIt1Ek— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) November 26, 2021
“Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage,” stated WHO in a news release.
So far, WHO has declared five variants of coronavirus as variants of concern including Omicron.
The other four are:
- Alpha (B.1.1.7 — United Kingdom, Sep-2020 )
- Beta (B.1.351 — South Africa, May-2020 )
- Gamma (P.1 — Brazil, Nov-2020)
- Delta (B.1.617.2 –India, Oct-2020 )
