The emergence of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has made the world, including Indonesia, alert again and alert to the spread of COVID-19. Variant B.1.1.529 designated as "Omicron" by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the latest variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19 which was first detected in South Africa.
In November 2021, WHO through dr. Maria Van Kerkhove announced that Omicron has been included in the variant of concern (VOC) list. Several countries have started imposing entry bans for foreign nationals who have recently visited a number of countries in Africa to prevent the spread of this B.1.1.529 variant.
The spread of Omicron is expanding to many Asian countries, and is getting closer to Indonesia after Singapore and Malaysia also reported cases.
The following are facts about Omicron that the public needs to know, including:
- Transmission speed
According to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Francis Collins, Omicron has a high transmission rate in South Africa. Researchers from South Africa, Salim Abdool Karim, hypothesized from the initial data that the Omicron variant could spread faster than the Delta variant. However, this is still not certain because further data is still needed. Several countries have now reported detecting Omicron variants related to travel history to South Africa, namely Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, England, the most recent being Singapore and Malaysia. The United States even reported cases of the Omicron variant with no history of travel to South Africa.
- Impact of Omicron variant exposure
WHO is still continuing to conduct research on the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 infection on health. There has been no report on whether this variant has a worse health impact than the previous variants, as happened with the Delta variant. Launching from WHO, there is an increase in the number of hospitalizations in South Africa, but this can still occur due to factors other than infection from the Omicron variant itself, such as low immunity.
- Omicron variant symptoms
Based on preliminary data in South Africa, no specific or unusual symptoms have been reported from infection with the Omicron variant. In fact, some reported cases are asymptomatic, fairly mild, and can be treated at home. Symptoms experienced by sufferers of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 reported include fever, weakness, and sore throat. However, there were no reports of coughing symptoms or loss of the sense of taste and smell like the symptoms of COVID-19 which were often encountered before.
Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, said that the symptoms of the Omicron variant may be milder than other variants, but the spread rate is faster and there is more risk of causing other mutations in the future.
Even so, the public must remain vigilant because this variant is still being studied for its development and still has the risk of causing severe symptoms and possibly even causing death, especially in groups of people with low immunity.
- The difference between Omicron and other variants
Omicron has about 34 mutations in its amino acid protein sequence (30 are substitution mutations, 3 deletion mutations, and 1 insertion mutation). Of the 30 substitution mutations, half are located in the receptor binding domain (RBD). This is the most mutation that is considered unique and not found in other corona variants.
The Head of Medicine at Nference Inc., Venky Soundararajan, showed a comparison of the Omicron variant mutation with several previous Covid-19 variants where the Alpha variant only had 4 unique mutations, the Beta variant had 6 unique mutations, the Gamma variant had 8 unique mutations, while the Delta variant had 7 unique mutation.
- Vaccine effectiveness on Omicron variants
Until now, the Covid-19 vaccination is still considered to be a fairly effective prevention to avoid various types of Covid-19 variants. The vaccine that has been running is able to provide protection against the Omicron variant and can prevent severe symptoms due to COVID-19, especially if you have received the complete vaccination dose and have done a booster vaccination.
In addition, don't forget to always follow health protocols, such as washing your hands, wearing a mask, staying away from crowds, and staying at home or seeking medical help immediately if you experience health problems related to symptoms of Covid-19.
Article reviewed by dr. Fahrani Imanina Putri Nurtyas, Sp.PK (Clinical Pathology Specialist Doctor at EMC Sentul Hospital).
Source:
- Science Brief: Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/scientific-brief-omicron-variant.html
- Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern. https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern
- AJ Venkatakrishnan, Praveen Anand, Patrick J Lenehan, Rohit Suratekar, Bharathwaj Raghunathan, Michiel JM Niesen, Venky Soundararajan. Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 harbors a unique insertion mutation of putative viral or human genomic origin.