They said they would be implementing the rule in a few days..
But it's not strong enough - it should be no mask, no travel on public transport, or entry to shops, without a valid reason not the wear one.
New Covid Variant - B.1.1.529
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They said they would be implementing the rule in a few days..
But it's not strong enough - it should be no mask, no travel on public transport, or entry to shops, without a valid reason not the wear one.
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They are identified and named in the open on GitHub:
https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/343
Nu and Xi were skipped by the WHO technical advisory group because previous rules already state that confusing or common names are not used.
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That's mostly been answered, but the Greek letter which corresponds to the "English" letter O is omicron not omega. Omega is at the end, where the direct associations don't work quite as well.
I just checked which omega fitted best and saw that
o mega means big o and
o micron means little o.
Never occurred to me before.
ω is angular velocity, innit...
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Thanks. I never read the first 5 pages as I thought it would be the standard pro/ anti vaccine posts.
Anyway the Greeks have two O's? That's just stupid. If they were so clever they would have used the phonetic alphabet.
Or names that might be associated with China's leader.
New Covid variant called omicron not Xi to avoid offending Chinese ruler (msn.com)
It's also a very common surname.
It's very impressive how early this variant was detected and the very early initial data is looking like it is limited to mild disease with no hospitalisations in vaccinated individuals, but more infectious.
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There was a fuss about the beta variant, also in SA, because it spread fast and the vaccine they had (AZ I think) didn't stop contraction. UK labs were on watch for it. It did make it here as omicron has, but after a while it seemed to effectively fizzle out. Not enough people susceptible enough, or something.
This Ohmigod variant is thought to be a combination of Delta and another ( which has gone extinct) https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1526301/Covid-super-variant-UK-cases-EVG so it seems reasonable to expect the vaccine will be ok - for now. Time for a tweaked one though surely? Delta has been here far more than the 100 days Patrick Valance claimed, and we know that as vaccines go, the ones we have could be better at preventing infection.
So it's probably best to wait and see rather than cry wolf?
This Ohmigod variant is thought to be a combination of Delta and another ( which has gone extinct) https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1526301/Covid-super-variant-UK-cases-EVG so it seems reasonable to expect the vaccine will be ok - for now. Time for a tweaked one though surely? Delta has been here far more than the 100 days Patrick Valance claimed, and we know that as vaccines go, the ones we have could be better at preventing infection.
So it's probably best to wait and see rather than cry wolf?
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Variants are being sequenced at a high rate now. Where did you see that about "mild"? So much the better; it'll confer some immunity for the other variants to those who contract it.
"The Omicron variant has about 50 mutations, with 30 in the spike protein and 10 in the receptor binding motif, the part that binds to our cell receptor called ACE2, which is greater than any other mutated strain.
There are also mutations at the furin cleavage site, which is alarming as this is an area that helps the virus get into human cells, and which makes it so infectious
Dr Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said that many mutations, particularly E484, G446, K417 and Q493, were at “peak escape sites”, meaning that many antibodies would be impacted.
“This does not mean that the [omicron] variant will fully escape vaccine or infection-elicited antibodies. It takes many many mutations to fully escape neutralisation, and there are also T-cells,” he said.
“But I’d expect the [omicron] variant to cause more of a hit on vaccines – and infection-elicited antibody neutralisation – than anything we’ve seen so far.”
Aside from the theoretical science of why it could be more infectious and dangerous, real world data is also suggesting that omicron could cause serious problems"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ant-nu-strain-south-africa-symptoms-cases-uk/
There are also mutations at the furin cleavage site, which is alarming as this is an area that helps the virus get into human cells, and which makes it so infectious
Dr Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said that many mutations, particularly E484, G446, K417 and Q493, were at “peak escape sites”, meaning that many antibodies would be impacted.
“This does not mean that the [omicron] variant will fully escape vaccine or infection-elicited antibodies. It takes many many mutations to fully escape neutralisation, and there are also T-cells,” he said.
“But I’d expect the [omicron] variant to cause more of a hit on vaccines – and infection-elicited antibody neutralisation – than anything we’ve seen so far.”
Aside from the theoretical science of why it could be more infectious and dangerous, real world data is also suggesting that omicron could cause serious problems"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ant-nu-strain-south-africa-symptoms-cases-uk/
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Listening to the various expert commentators on late News in US, EU Jo'burg , all depends on the "pathogenicity" of omicron. Yes it's more easily transmitted than delta, and the viral load is higher so if it's only equally impactful as delta to the individual, it would be bad.
It's only if it's milder, that it won't be bad.
Covid cases (unspecified variant) shot up in the affected area of SA (doubled Thursday) which are suspected to be omi , but they shot up in Austria too - presumably not omicron and and they're far more vaccinated. So that SA rise may or may not be alarming.
The rate by which transmission and pathogenicity is attenuated by the vaccine ( review here https://thenewdaily.com.au/tag/coronavirus-vaccine/ and Al Jazeera agree but I lost the link) may change. The ways the vaccines do that are complex - eg papers like
this and
this for background, and all their links...
Those experts are saying it'll take 2-3 weeks to know what's going on.
Israel has banned incomers from everywhere. Hey ho, Bet it gets there too before long.
It's only if it's milder, that it won't be bad.
Covid cases (unspecified variant) shot up in the affected area of SA (doubled Thursday) which are suspected to be omi , but they shot up in Austria too - presumably not omicron and and they're far more vaccinated. So that SA rise may or may not be alarming.
The rate by which transmission and pathogenicity is attenuated by the vaccine ( review here https://thenewdaily.com.au/tag/coronavirus-vaccine/ and Al Jazeera agree but I lost the link) may change. The ways the vaccines do that are complex - eg papers like
this and
this for background, and all their links...
Those experts are saying it'll take 2-3 weeks to know what's going on.
Israel has banned incomers from everywhere. Hey ho, Bet it gets there too before long.
Will it be Pi next? Covid Pi doesn't sound very tasty.
Some unhelpful and Off Topic posts have been deleted.
Some thing ironic about omicron being an anagram of MORONIC !!!
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