From the United States to Germany and from Saudi Arabia to Australia, the Covid-19 omicron variant has spread to dozens of countries around the world.
The World Health Organization has called Omicron, which was first discovered by South African scientists, a “worrying variant” because of a large number of mutations that could make the variant more contagious.
Much is still unknown about the variant initially designated as B.1.1.529. Scientists are studying whether it is more communicable, causing more serious illness and death, and whether tests, therapeutics, and vaccines are effective against it.
Still, the advent of the Omicron variant has led some countries to tighten border restrictions and spark new concerns about the health of the global economy. Meanwhile, declining investor sentiment rocked global markets.
Rating agency Moody’s said the Omicron variant had created new uncertainty just as many countries were moving towards a semblance of post-pandemic normality.
“Omicron’s discovery underscores our belief that the COVID-19 pandemic remains a health threat as well as the primary source of uncertainty for the global economy and a driver of financial market volatility,” Moody’s said in a report Tuesday.
The Covid pandemic, which began early last year, has seen more than 263 million reported infections and over 5.2 million known deaths as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More than 8 billion doses of the Covid vaccine have been given, according to Hopkins data. But many low-income countries – especially those in Africa – have vaccinated less than 10% of their population, according to statistics from the online repository Our World in Data.
– Correction: This article has been updated to correctly reflect that over 8 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered worldwide.
