‘Omicron should be called COVID-21’
There is a special reason for the attention of scientists to go to the Omicron variant. Actually the Omicron variant of Corona has been the longest running COVID variant with 1100 sub-variants of Corona. Doctors said that this variant acted like a new type of virus, it was completely different from the virus of Wuhan city of China. It was so different that it should be called COVID-21. When Omicron emerged in Botswana and South Africa in November 2021, scientists felt that it was rapidly affecting people with weak immunity and HIV positive. But Dr John told TOI that ‘a British study in HIV-positive people showed that the rate of mutation was much lower’.
Omicron’s virus spreads rapidly in the body
Omicron spreads to other cells of the body faster than other variants. South African doctors had shared an important information regarding the Omicron virus. He had said that this virus spreads rapidly. But with the help of corona vaccine, this virus can be avoided. He said Omicron was a mild disease and it also reduced the number of deaths.
On the theory of the origin of Omicron from rats, Dr. John said that research on the virus of Omicron showed that this virus spreads faster through animals than humans. He said that Chinese researchers had also attributed Omicron to rats. A research paper from Finland states that the beta variant of the corona spread by the nose originated from rats. However, in the future, sub-variants of Omicron will continue to cause an increase in corona cases from time to time. Dr. John has advised vaccination to avoid Omicron and other corona variants.