Disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Biology

Geography

Coronavirus

Medicine

Population

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Environmental health

Virology

Pathology

Journal of Medical Virology

The identification of the most muted coronavirus variant is triggering alarm worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) designated this new variant as a variant of concern and named it Omicron (B.1.1.529) on November 26, 2021. It is the fifth "variant of concern" after Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. This variant mutated 50 times and holds more than 30 changes in its spike protein.1 Human antibody produced by the immune system targets mainly the spike protein to fight a coronavirus infection. After the first detection in South Africa, Australia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Hong Kong, Britain, Botswana, and Belgium reported Omicron variant among their citizens so far.2 Researchers are still unclear about the effectiveness of vaccines against this variant because this variant displays multiple mutations that might resist neutralization.3 Moreover, the most worrying thing is that Omicron is significantly different from the first coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China. The WHO warned the countries...

Detection of highly muted coronavirus variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is triggering the alarm for South Asian countries: Associated risk factors and preventive actions