Covid-19 new form ‘Omicron’: Nearly two years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world seems to be battling new forms of the virus that have surfaced in the past. This form of the virus is likely to thwart the protection provided by the vaccine. A committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new form of the corona virus ‘Omicron’ and termed it as ‘very contagious worrying form’. Earlier, this category had the delta form of the corona virus, due to which people in many parts of Europe and America lost their lives on a large scale. Since the appearance of the new form of the corona virus, various countries of the world are imposing travel restrictions from South African countries so that the spread of the new form can be stopped. On the advice of the World Health Organization, many countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iran, Japan, Thailand, America, European Union countries and Britain have imposed restrictions on travel from South African countries.
Despite the closure of aircraft operations, there is such evidence that this form is spreading. New cases have been reported in travelers from Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong. Perhaps a case has also come to the fore in Germany. Officials in Holland are investigating the redesign after 61 passengers were found infected with Covid-19 on two planes coming from South Africa. US President Joe Biden said of the new pattern, it seems that it is spreading rapidly.
The WHO said that the actual dangers of Omicron are not yet understood, but preliminary evidence suggests that the risk of re-infection is higher than other highly infectious forms. This means that people who have been infected with Covid-19 and have recovered from it, they can get infected again. However, it will take weeks to know whether current vaccines are less effective against it.
The White House said that from Monday the US would impose restrictions on people coming from South Africa and seven other countries in the region. Biden said that this means that no one will come or go from these countries except American citizens and permanent residents returning to the country. Medical experts, including the WHO, have cautioned against over-reacting before this pattern is studied in detail. But after the death of more than 50 lakh people worldwide due to this virus, people are scared.
Britain, European Union countries and some other countries imposed new travel restrictions on Friday, and some of these countries imposed restrictions within hours of the new form being revealed. Asked why the US waited until Monday, Biden said, “Only because that’s what my medical team recommended.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said flights should be suspended until we have a clear understanding of the danger posed by this redesign and that passengers returning from the region should be subject to stricter isolation rules. should be followed.
Belgium’s Health Minister Frank Vandenbrücke said it was a suspicious pattern. “We don’t know if it’s a very dangerous form.” The US government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci said that Omicron has not yet had a case in the US. He said, although it may be more contagious than other forms and the vaccine may not have as much effect on it, but we do not know anything for sure. Biden said the redesign is a matter of “grave concern” and it should be clear that the pandemic will not end until vaccinations are implemented around the world.
Israel, one of the world’s most vaccinated countries, announced on Friday that it had the first case of a new form of the corona virus in a traveler who returned from Malawi. The passenger and two other suspects have been kept in a separate habitat. Israel said that all three have received vaccine doses but officials are ascertaining the actual status of their vaccinations.
Passengers aboard KLM Flight 598 from Cape Town in South Africa to Amsterdam, after a 10-hour overnight flight, were held on the runway of Schiphol airport for four hours on Friday morning for special screening.
Britain banned flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries on Friday afternoon and announced that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to undergo a coronavirus test.
Britain has imposed restrictions on people arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia from Friday. However, the government reiterated that no new case of the virus has been detected in the country so far.
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Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Malta and the Czech Republic are among countries in Europe that have imposed strict travel restrictions and have already imposed lockdowns amid a worrying rise in COVID-19 cases.
Several drug companies, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer, said they have plans for vaccines to adapt to the redesign after Omicron surfaced.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, expressed the hope that current vaccines could be effective in preventing serious diseases caused by the Omicron form. The Oxford Vaccine Group has developed the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said that most of the mutations occurred in the same regions where other variants took place. Less than six percent of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and the vast majority of the population have yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine.
