Meet the omicron - what exactly is known about the new variant of COVID-19?

Did you write letters to Santa Claus as a child?The one who lives in Veliky Ustyug? I am sure he receives letters regularly and accurately in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he is unlikely to be able to help us - his task is to please the kids for the New Year, and not to fight the pandemic (even despite hundreds of letters from children from all over the world asking to put an end to it). Fortunately, with these questions we can turn to scientists and - oh, miracle - get answers. But these answers will probably not be to everyone's liking. The new version of the coronavirus, the omicron, turned out to be the dark horse of viral evolution and learned to bypass our "immune armor" - only measles is more infectious than the omicron today. This means that one person can infect eight people at once. Serious numbers, right? At the same time, the Internet is literally overflowing with positive news - serious scientists believe that the "soft" omicron will gradually turn into a common ARVI and we will finally forget about the pandemic. But is it? And why are hospitalizations growing in countries where this particular variant of the coronavirus is raging?

The pandemic is far from over. Or not?

Content

• 1 War declared on mankind
• 2 Pandemic as a way of life
  • 2.1 Soft and light omicron?
  • 2.2 Interesting statistics
  • 2.3 Hospitalization with omicron
• 3 Symptoms and warning bells
• 4 An Endless Pandemic?

War has been declared on humanity

Living in the era of fake news is not easy.Each of us has a formed picture of the world, but alas, not everyone succeeds in changing our worldview. This is especially true for vaccinations - people are ready to eat snow, just not to be vaccinated (yes, there are some, and I even talked with them). At the same time, few people realize that eating snow is dangerous to health, especially the one that falls on the streets of megacities. The situation is compounded by a lack of confidence in science and the dawn of all sorts of conspiracy theories.

But do not assume that such sentimentsOnly here. The whole world, in addition to the pandemic, is also fighting against infodemia, which is no less dangerous than COVID-19. And, as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, warned in early 2020, uneven access to vaccines around the world could lead to even larger mutations in SARS-CoV-2.

WHO Head Tedros Ghebreyesus

Why was the head of WHO right?Because the omicron appeared where the percentage of vaccinated hardly exceeds 5%. To understand how exactly the coronavirus managed to outwit everyone and spread around the world, let's turn to viral evolution.

Evolution of viruses - section of evolutionary biology and virology,dedicated to (pardon the tautology) the evolution of viruses. When a virus replicates, or makes copies of itself, it changes slightly. These changes are called “mutations”.

Viruses have existed for as long as we ourselves andare waging a real war with us. So far, we have managed to win, but in the case of COVID-19, things have turned out to be more complicated. We are faced not only with a dangerous disease, but also with the consequences that it brings with it.

Pandemic as a way of life

With the onset of the new year, the world found itself indifficult situation. On the one hand, the percentage of vaccinated people is growing, especially in developed countries. On the other hand, the emergence of a new variant that has learned to bypass immunity. As toxicologist Alexei Vodovozov put it, we are the fodder base for the coronavirus.

So the coronavirus looks under a microscope

Once in the body weakened by HIV infectionhuman, covid received carte blanche and acquired at least 50 mutations. These mutations, importantly, mainly target the contagiousness of the virus. This is why the omicron is spreading so rapidly. The symptoms of the disease have also changed and, judging by the latest data, the new variant is proceeding more easily. But if this is true, why is the percentage of hospital admissions with omicron increasing?

More on the subject: COVID-19 reinfection study provides not encouraging information on Omicron

A soft and light omicron?

As the omicron gets out of handin some countries, emergency departments are re-filling. Manhattan emergency department physician Dr. Craig Spencer told reporters that the current wave of covid is very different from the last two years of the pandemic. The point is that people get sick, but in a different way.

Today it seems that COVID-19 in one way or anotherthe uniform was at all. Some patients, as before, suffer from shortness of breath and need oxygen. But for most, covid has upset the delicate balance of the underlying disease. People do get sick, but in a different way, - wrote Spencer on his Twitter.

Coronavirus is developing rapidly and acquiring mutations

Spencer acknowledges the latest research findingsaround the world - they say the omicron appears to be leaking easier than the delta that raged last year. However, when many people are infected, it doesn't really matter in hospitals - they are still full. According to him the new variant affects patients differently.

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Interesting statistics

So, on the one hand, the omicron flows easier, withthe other is frightening statistics on hospitalizations from South Africa, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Where the omicron spreads, children's hospital admissions skyrocket and rise to record levels in a matter of weeks. This is very different from previous options and waves when people over 65 were admitted to the hospital. So now it's official - children are more likely to get covid.

As data analyst Alexander Dragan writes on his Telegram channel, the delta wave in the United States has led to a record number of children's hospitalizations and deaths related to covid:

Only from July in the USA from covid and coronaviruspneumonia, 935 children died - more than in the entire previous period since the beginning of the epidemic. From covid alone (with a diagnosis of U07.1 in the causes of death), 717 children have died since July - this is less than 6 months. And almost the same number died in the previous 16 months - from March 2020 to July 2021.

Hospital admissions statistics with omicron in New York

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Frightening statistics, agree.Even more alarming is the fact that today we do not know how the omicron will manifest itself. Moreover, there is reason to believe that "due to better replication in the bronchi, omicron is capable of leading to bronchiolitis - a serious complication among young children, in which bronchioles are blocked."

Go ahead.As shown by the results of a recent study in the lungs, the omicron multiplies 10 times slower than the "original" SARS-CoV-2. In addition, let's not forget that all estimates are preliminary and based on incomplete data - as is the case with other similar studies.

The evolution of the virus is happening quickly and right before our eyes

“The only thing that can be said for sure with a highthe degree of certainty is that we should not count on the end of the epidemic in 2022, and we will have at least two more waves, probably already associated with the omicron, ”the analyst writes.

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Hospitalization at the omicron

Now let's see how things are in New Yorkwhere omicron prevails - in just a week the average number of new hospitalizations increased 2.5 times, in two weeks - 3.7. Almost 4 times more people are admitted to hospitals than at the peak of the summer delta wave. The burden on hospitals is also growing:
occupied bed capacity reached 71% of last winter's peak and three times the delta wave peak.

The number of patients in hospitals increased by 110% over the week, and in intensive care units - by 69%. And such a picture is observed wherever the omicron is raging.

And here is the latest news - the omicron is amazingupper respiratory tract, resulting in milder symptoms than previous strains. “We are seeing more and more studies indicating that omicron infects the upper body. Unlike other options, this could lead to severe pneumonia, ”WHO spokesman Abdi Mahamoud said at a media briefing in Geneva.

Coronavirus strides the planet, and very confidently

So what do we have in the bottom line?The results of a new study (the work has not yet been peer reviewed) showed that, in comparison with both Delta and the original coronavirus, omicron penetrates the upper respiratory tract and lungs faster, but penetrates much more slowly into the lung tissue itself.

For example, it was found that rodents infected with omicron had less lung damage, lost less weight and were less likely to die than those infected with delta.

Good news, isn't it? But it's too early to rejoice - omicron took over the world in just one month... And given the current scenario, it is imperative to knowabout all the typical and not typical signs of the disease - the symptoms of the omicron differ from the already familiar delta. People with omicron experience a wide range of symptoms, according to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Symptoms and warning bells

When infected with omicron, patients havepale, gray, or blue skin on the lips or nail plates. These are dangerous symptoms that indicate a lack of oxygen in the blood. According to the health organization, these symptoms are "emergency warning indicators" and require urgent medical attention.

Difficulty breathing, persistent chest pain or pressure, and “head fog” are also indicators of an emergency.

Other symptoms of the new variant include:

• Sore throat
• Back pain
• Runny nose and nasal congestion
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Sneezing
• Night sweats
• Body aches

As for the lethality of the new strain, the data thatFortunately, they give hope - the number of deaths from the omicron is an order of magnitude lower than that of the delta. But these data are preliminary and to conclude that the end of the pandemic awaits us, I think, is wrong. Moreover, another variant of covid has appeared in France, which has almost 46 mutations and WHO experts are closely monitoring its behavior.

The new variant of the coronavirus has many mutations

Read even more fascinating articles on our channel in Yandex.Zen, there are regularly published articles that are not on the site!

In general, news about the omicron comes in every day.So, in Russia, cases of simultaneous infection with influenza and COVID-19 have been recorded. “With such a simultaneous infection, the disease is more complicated, with possible consequences. This requires an individual approach to treatment, ”said Georgy Vikulov, director of the Research Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Viral Infections.

An endless pandemic?

Interestingly, the cases of the so-called "flurons"are increasingly common. Earlier, la Repubblica reported that the first case of a simultaneous illness of COVID-19 and influenza was detected in Israel. In a word, the situation is difficult. And today there is very, very little reliable data.

In countries dominated by omicron, hospitalizations are increasing

In Russia, a wave of omicron is expected in February, so you and I, dear readers, will have to sit at home again - fully vaccinated people become infected with the new variant, and the percentage of hospitalizations is growing.

The development of vaccines against a new strain is alsoIt will take time, but we already know something about vaccinations against covid - the course of the disease in vaccinated people is much easier and significantly reduces the mortality rate.

Be healthy, take care of yourself and your loved ones!Wear protective masks, practice social distancing, wash your hands, and of course, get vaccinated. So far, vaccination is the best way to defeat an invisible enemy. You can read more about how covid vaccines work here. Also, do not forget to subscribe to our Telegram channel - so you will definitely be aware of the main news from the world of science and high technologies.