COVID Variant Omicron Identified In South Africa, ’Super Mutant’ May Make Vaccine 40% Less Effective

The new heavily mutated COVID-19 variant, first detected in South Africa, has been named Omicron by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Acknowledging the high transmissibility of the Omicron () strain of COVID-19, the WHO has declared it to be a ’variant of concern’ (VoC). While the Omicron strain was first spotted in genome-sequencing data from Botswana, it has now spread to South Africa, Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia. Here’s all you want to know about the new variant.