Concern over what follows Omicron
Every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate, warn experts
NEW YORK — Omicron’s whirlwind advance practically ensures it will not be the last version of the coronavirus to worry the world, scientists have warned. Every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate, and Omicron has an edge over its predecessors: It spreads a lot faster despite emerging on a planet with a stronger patchwork of immunity from vaccines and previous illness.
“The faster Omicron spreads, the more opportunities there are for mutation, potentially leading to more variants,” Leonardo Martinez, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Boston University, said.
Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, said: “It’s the longer, persistent infections that seem to be the most likely breeding grounds for new variants. It’s only when you have very widespread infection that you’re going to provide the opportunity for that to occur.”
As Omicron continues on its nasty path, countries are tightening or retightening their anti-pandemic measures to fight with record highs of daily infections.
In Asia, India’s election commission on Jan 15 extended a ban on public rallies and roadshows in the five pollbound states by a week in the wake of an increase in cases.
The poll panel, however, also granted some relaxations to political parties in the five states, where assembly elections will be held in up to seven phases from Feb 10 until March 7.
The country logged 282,970 new
cases on Jan 19, shortly following a record high of 533,035 on Jan 14, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Japan reported 32,097 new cases on Jan 18, surpassing 25,000 for the third time in four days since Aug 26, according to its Office for COVID-19
and Other Emerging Infectious Disease Control.
The recent tally beat its previous highest daily figure of 25,992 on Aug 20, about two weeks after the Tokyo Olympics ended amid the country’s fifth infection wave.
In the past two weeks the daily count has risen 50-fold.
Indonesia reported 1,362 new cases on Jan 19, the highest daily increase in three months, overwhelming medical facilities.
However, Bambang Wibowo, chairman of the Indonesian Hospital Association, said the country can cope with the third wave of the virus as long as the number of patients who must be treated does not exceed the capacity of hospital beds and medical workers.
In the hardest-hit United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance on masks for the public, recommending the use of N95 and KN95 masks because they offer the best protection against COVID-19.
Also, US citizens will be able to request free rapid coronavirus tests from the federal government beginning on Jan 19, but the tests will take seven to 12 days to arrive, officials have said.
“The delay in accepting orders and the lag in shipping mean that people are unlikely to receive the free tests until the end of January at the earliest,” The New York Times said.
Omicron poses a dire situation for migrants inside the US, with the number of infections among immigrants detained at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers rising 520 percent since the start of the year.