The Omicron Explosion - How Dangerous Is It?

Don’t be fooled by Omicron’s milder manifestation. Covid’s new strain is spreading like wildfire and can be ignored only at our own peril

- Sonali Acharjee

ACTIVE CASES IN INDIA

955,312

AVG. DAILY NEW CASES

150,307

OMICRON CASES AS % OF TOTAL

85%

DISTRICTS AFFECTED

300

DAILY POSITIVITY RATE

11%

GLOBAL ACTIVE CASES

46,787,902

Meet the new mutant Ninja variant: Omicron. The latest in the steadily growing variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Omicron shares traits with its cousins—Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta—but is also more evolved. Scientists have found 50 mutations in the Omicron avatar compared to 18 in Delta, of which a staggering 36 are found in the spike protein the virus uses to invade human cells. Many of these can overcome the fortifications provided by the new vaccines developed to combat Covid-19. That makes Omicron the most infectious of the coronavirus variants to have tormented the globe since December 2019. The only saving grace, if there is one, is that while it has spread more rapidly than its predecessors, it is less lethal (so far).