Public Health Concerns of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: What We Know So Far!

Abstract

The Omicron variant is the latest variant of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The new variant is characterized by thirty (30) substitutions, three (3) small deletions and one (1) small insertion in the spike protein, of these, fifteen (15) are in the receptor binding domain (RBD). This new variant was first detected in samples collected on 11 November 2021 in Botswana and on 14 November 2021 in South Africa and was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on 24 November, 2021. As of 01 December, the variant has so far spread to at least twenty-five (25) countries around the world through international travels. So far, the Omicron variant is the most divergent variant that has been detected in significant numbers during the pandemic, which raises public health concerns that it may be associated with increased transmissibility, significant reduction in vaccine efficacy and increased risk for reinfections among those who have suffered COVID-19 before. This review takes a look at the public health concerns of the omicron variant and also highlight important interventions required to contain the variant.