It takes 3 - 4 days for researchers to confirm how effective the vaccine is against Omicron...in the meantime, the financial markets will be volatile...the VIX is now greater than 28. Omicron is a wake-up call to all those countries will low vaccination rates of what can happen to their economy and health of their citizens when a Variant of Concern is birthed in their country... The rest of the world will isolate them beyond travel bans because those low vaccination countries are a threat to the global recovery and economies because of Covid. In fact, that threat does not need to be a Covid Outbreak...it can just be a single mutated virus / person that causes the vaccines to have less efficacy or less effectiveness. wrbtrader
I did ancient Greek for two years. You can't run out of letters as omega finishes earthly concerns. As I hazarded near the beginning, this is a long haul 4-5 year thing. Vaccines will reduce mortality hugely but won't take very much off the duration unless we just start dumping antivaxxers on an island, if feeling that generous in another year. Only 9 of 27 kids were in my 8 year old niece's class today in Dublin.
it would not surprise anyone. In some ways stopping flights from Africa is closing the barn doors after the fox is already in the hen house --- on the good news side... at least no more foxes will get in to cause faster damage.
24hr ago: Fauci emphasized that the U.S. is in “very active communication” with South African scientists and is working to get the molecular makeup of the variant in order to conduct lab tests. The new strain has now been detected in a growing number of countries, including Belgium, Botswana and Israel. Fauci said there was “no indication” that omicron had reached the U.S. yet. basically, he's saying it's here already
U.S. should be prepared to do "anything," including lockdowns, to fight Omicron - Fauci WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The United States' top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday that Americans should be prepared to do "anything and everything" to fight the spread of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron. It is "too early to say" whether we need new lockdowns or mandates, Fauci told ABC News. "You want to be prepared to do anything and everything," he said.
UK, Germany and Italy detect Omicron variant cases, Israel closes borders LONDON/BERLIN/AMSTERDAM, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Britain, Germany and Italy detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic. Israel said it would ban the entry of all foreigners into the country and reintroduce counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology to contain the spread of the variant. The two linked cases of Omicron detected in Britain were connected to travel to southern Africa, British health minister Sajid Javid said. Johnson laid out measures that included stricter testing rules for people arriving in the country but that stopped short of curbs on social activity other than requiring mask wearing in some settings. "We will require anyone who enters the UK to take a PCR test by the end of the second day after their arrival and to self-isolate until they have a negative result," Johnson told a news conference. People who had come into contact with people testing positive for a suspected case of Omicron would have to self-isolate for 10 days and the government would tighten the rules on wearing face coverings, Johnson said, adding the steps would be reviewed in three weeks. The health ministry in the German state of Bavaria also announced two confirmed cases of the variant. The two people entered Germany at Munich airport on Nov. 24, before Germany designated South Africa as a virus-variant area, and were now isolating, said the ministry, indicating without stating explicitly that the people had travelled from South Africa. In Italy, the National Health Institute said a case of the new variant had been detected in Milan in a person coming from Mozambique. Czech health authorities also said they were examining a suspected case of the variant in a person who spent time in Namibia.
Visual of how genetically divergent Omicron is over the wild strain through all other variants to date: