Rizwana Arun

We all know that Omicron virus is spreading all over the world. Now the most of the people affected is Africa. Many of the mutations to the spike protein are present in other variants of concern and are related to increased infectivity and antibody evasion. Computational modeling suggests that the variant may also escape cell-mediated immunity. On 26 November, the ECDC wrote that an evaluation of the neutralizing capacity of convalescent sera and of vaccines is urgently needed to assess possible immune escape, saying these data are expected within two to three weeks. As of November 2021, it is unknown how the variant will spread in populations with high levels of immunity, it is also unknown if the omicron variant causes a milder or more severe COVID-19 infection. According to pharmaceutical companies, vaccines could be updated to combat the variant "in around 100 days" if necessary But the Africans are not afraid of that, they are ready to face any consequences. And till now there is no worse situation and bad situation in Africa. But false news are spreading in other countries that it is more dangerous than Corona. And most of the people are going to, and the vaccine taken for Covid-19 is not enough, so that new vaccines are going to be made in one month. People are getting more fear by hearing this. Medias are the main reason for that. If the people get over panic, they would even die due to heart attack before the Omicron. So we only need to care not to fear. On 24 November 2021, the variant was first reported to the WHO from South Africa, based on samples that had been collected from 14 to 16 November. South African scientists were first alerted by samples from the very beginning of November where the PCR tests had S-gene target failure (occurs in a few variants, but not in Delta which dominated in the country in October) and by a sudden increase of COVID-19 cases in Gauteng; sequencing revealed that more than 70 percent of samples collected in the province between 14 and 23 November were a new variant. The first confirmed specimens of Omicron were collected on 8 November 2021 in South Africa, and on 9 November in Botswana. When WHO was alerted on 24 November, Hong Kong was the only place outside of Africa that had confirmed a case of Omicron; one person who traveled from South Africa on 11 November, and another traveler who was cross-infected by this case while staying in the same quarantine hotel. On 25 November, one confirmed case was identified in Israel from a traveler returning from Malawi, along with two who returned from South Africa and one from Madagascar. Belgium confirmed its first case; an unvaccinated person who had travelled from Egypt via Turkey on 11 November. All four initial cases reported from Botswana occurred among fully vaccinated individuals. All three initial confirmed and suspected cases reported from Israel occurred among fully vaccinated individuals, as did a single suspected case in Germany. On 27 November, two cases were detected in the United Kingdom, another two in Munich, Germany and one in Milan, Italy. On 28 November, 13 cases were confirmed in the Netherlands among the 624 airline passengers who arrived from South Africa on 26 November. Confirmation of a further 5 cases among these passengers followed later.[140] Entry into the Netherlands generally required having been vaccinated or PCR-tested, or having recovered. The passengers of these two flights had been tested upon arrival because of the newly imposed restrictions (which were set in place during their flight), after which 61 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. A further two cases were detected in Australia. Both people landed in Sydney the previous day, and travelled from southern Africa to Sydney Airport via Doha Airport. The two people, who were fully vaccinated, entered isolation; 12 other travellers from southern Africa also entered quarantine for fourteen days, while about 260 other passengers and crew on the flight have been directed to isolate. Two travellers from South Africa who landed in Denmark tested positive for COVID-19; it was confirmed on 28 November that both carried the Omicron variant. On the same day, Austria also confirmed its first Omicron case. A detected Omicron case was reported in the Czech Republic, from a traveler who spent time in Namibia. Canada also reported its first Omicron cases, with two from travelers from Nigeria, therefore becoming the first North American country to report an Omicron case.