Omicron news roundup: All the important developments about the Covid variant you must know  

Researchers may have found some answers for long Covid, in this Omicron-led third wave. (Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels)

EU to ease travel between bloc countries

Individual health status will soon be considered, as opposed to the health status of the country of origin, for allowing travel within the bloc. With an EU digital COVID certificate, travellers may soon be able to skip quarantine and additional testing. 

Why is it important?

Many countries in the bloc have been working to reduce restrictions and lockdowns to help their economies recover. With Omicron proving to be less severe than the previous variants and the citizens increasingly coming out in protests, the governments are adopting this new strategy. WHO’s regional director Dr Hans  Luge has said that the new variant “offers plausible hope for stabilisation and normalisation”.  

Neil Young asks Spotify to remove Covid-19 misinformation or to take out his songs

The country singer lashed out at the platform for allowing one of their podcasts’ hosts Joe Rogan to spread “fake information about vaccines”. He wrote in an open letter, “They (Spotify) can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Why is it important?

Rogan, who is a highly influential podcast host and has reportedly signed a $100-million deal with Spotify for exclusive streaming rights, has been featuring academics and scientists who are speaking out against vaccination. This can increase vaccine scepticism exponentially, even when scientists and medical experts have been trying to push for wider vaccine coverage to save lives. Hundreds of doctors have already written a petition to the platform to fire Rogan.  

Pfizer and BioNTech starts work on new vaccine to fight Omicron and later variants

The companies have started their trials for a new shot that will offer protection against the newer variants. They will study if vaccines need to be more variant specific, if they are to be more effective.

Why is it important?

The new variant had evaded immunity offered by earlier vaccines to drive the third wave. Also, BioNTech’s head has said that the protection offered by the previous vaccines seem to wane faster against the milder variants. "Vaccines continue to offer strong protection against severe disease caused by Omicron. Yet, emerging data indicate vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild to moderate disease wanes more rapidly than was observed with prior strains," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in a statement.

‘Considerable drop’ in infections in Africa: WHO

The World Health Organization has said that there has been a 20% drop in new cases and 6% drop in deaths in the continent. “The decline marks the end of the shortest outbreak on the continent, which lasted 56 days,” WHO’s Africa regional office said in a statement. 

Why is it important?

Medical experts and health authorities have been tracking the infection’s trajectory in the continent, since Omicron that led the third wave was first detected in South Africa. 

Four factors that determine chances of long Covid-19

A research team, which studied 200 people for months after they showed signs of the infection, has found four factors that could determine a person’s chance of developing long Covid-19. Long Covid-19 is a condition in which the person shows signs and symptoms weeks and months after the onset of the infection. The study was published in the journal Cell.

The four key factors:

*One, the level of coronavirus RNA in the blood early in the infection.

*Two, the presence of a kind of antibodies that attack even healthy tissues in the body, which even cause conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. 

*Three, reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, which infects most people when they are young and then lies dormant.

*Four type-2 diabetes, though this is only one of the many conditions for long Covid.

Omicron can’t evade all monoclonal antibodies: Study

A team led by researchers at Washington University has found that the variant may evade several monoclonal antibodies, but not all. Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic proteins that can mimic the body’s immune response to fight pathogens. Until now, several studies have suggested that this method of treatment may prove ineffective against the new variant.

Key points in the study:

*Antibodies from Vir Biotechnology’s sotrovimab and from Vanderbilt University Medical Centre’s (VUMC’s) Evusheld retained “substantial though reduced activity”.

*VUMC had developed Evusheld along with AstraZeneca.

*Antibodies, including those in clinical use by companies such as Celltrion, Regeneron and Eli Lilly, completely lost their ability to neutralise Omicron.

Key events in India

*50% of samples from Maharashtra test positive for Omicron BA.2; hospitalisation still driven by Delta.

*Madhya Pradesh reports a new ‘worrying’ strain of Omicron variant, which affected lungs of six of the 21 people infected. 

*Bengaluru’s plateauing infection numbers triggers hope, the Deccan Herald has reported.

*Kerala posts a massive surge in numbers with a daily count of 55,475.

*TN’s fatalities from Covid-19 are lesser than in other states, said state’s health minister Ma Subramanian.