The World Health Organization has said that the COVID-19 Omicron variant has been reported in more than 70 countries and has spread more rapidly than any other strain.
A WION report specified that all over the world, this new coronavirus variant "has been spreading at such an alarming rate."
Owing to this fast transmission, scientists of the world are collaborating to understand the Omicron variant's behavior, which is thought to be highly resistant to the currently used COVID-19 vaccines.
Compared to early strains of the virus, the results thus far specify that this new variant is causing lesser severe symptoms.
Nonetheless, people infected with the Omicron strain have reported one common symptom is a scratchy throat. On the contrary, previous variants resulted in a sore throat.
Itchy Throat
Recently at a briefing, the chief executive of Discovery Health announced that doctors had observed a minimally different set of symptoms among individuals who tested positive for the Omicron variant.
CEO Dr. Ryan Noach said the most common early sign is "a scratchy throat." It is then followed by other symptoms like dry cough, nasal congestion, and lower back pain resulting from myalgia.
Whereas most of these symptoms are mild, Dr. Noach underscored that this does not mean that the new variant is less infectious.
The findings of the chief executive were echoed as well by a British health expert who remarked that Omicron is acting "rather differently" from past COVID-19 strains, a similar MCE Zone report specified.
Such a virus is causing different symptoms to those caused by previous strains, said John Bell on the Today program of BBC Radio 4. He also noted that sore throats, stuffy nose, myalgia, and loose stools are the most typical signs one is infected with the Omicron variant.
Bell added, some things are known about Omicron, although others are yet to be determined by data. Scientists know one thing, explained Bell, and that is, this new variant is highly infectious.
This latest addition to the COVID-19 strains is said to be twice to thrice as infectious as the Delta variant, which was quite infections and continued Bell.
The severity of the illness, though, has yet to be identified, the expert said, adding, the next couple of weeks will reveal how severe it is in the United Kingdom.
Omicron-Related Morbidity and Mortality Report
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report specified that during the period of December 1 to 8, 22 US states reported at least one COVID-19 case attributed to the Omicron variant. Among the 43 cases with initial follow-up, one hospital admission and no fatalities had been reported.
Execution of concurrent prevention schemes, which include vaccination, improvement of ventilation, masking, quarantine, testing, and isolation, is recommended to slow the spread of COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, to shield against severe infection and death from the virus.
In connection to this, the CDC has recommended prioritizing contact tracing and investigation of COVID-19 cases for confirmed infections attributed to the new variant.
Such a prioritization needs to be balanced with the maintenance of case investigation, as well as contract racing for outbreaks of confirmed COVID-19 infection in high-risk congregate backgrounds such as correctional facilities, long-term care facilities, and homeless shelters, as well as for those at risk for severe coronavirus-related outcomes.
Related report about the Omicron variant symptoms is shown on CNBC's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.
