The issue still remains that even with the fastest fast-track genomic sequencing, there's still maybe a 14 - 21 day window while they determine if a new variant is 'of interest' or 'of concern'. If it's highly infectious like omicron, it goes global in less than a month during which time the full impact on population, be they vaccinated, boostered or otherwise is still a huge unknown, hence the reintroduction of some restrictions.Khun Paul wrote: ↑January 10, 2022, 9:50 amI think that the way forward is what is being touted in the British Press currently, treat all variants unless specifically deemed to be a high hospitalisation variant like the Original Covid and Delta, as a serious flu type problem . In other words live with it, injections available if in the At Risk group ( which luckily does not include trolls and mis-informationists ) , like the flu a few days off and off we go again. No lockdowns, No shutdowns and life returns to as near normal as we can hope for . But businesses can insist on masks and whatever they like as they have always been able to .
Sounds like a sensible plan, making the Public responsible for their health , bet most would take a vaccine as they do Flu jabs , just to avoid being ill.
Omicron was highly contagious but by comparison, didn't migrate much beyond the upper respiratory tract with less people going to the hospital, getting admitted, intubated, etc.. The fact most people infected with omicron were asymptomatic defeated the temperature scanning method of detection as well. If delta had omicron's rate of infection, we would already be discussing a global lock-down ending in 2023... or be in a hospital.
There's either a sense of having dodged the bullet with omicron or, more dangerously, a notion that the world had defeated this virus. This 'deltacron' variant reported in Cyprus simply says that 'characteristics' of both variants exist. No mention of it's infection rate or payload. However, there's also no mention if the 25 cases found so far were the result of routine testing (possibly asymptomatic?) or if any of the 25 have been admitted to intensive care. I did note in one article a comment that the "...relative frequency of the combined infection is higher among patients hospitalized due to Covid-19 as compared to non-hospitalized patients." This suggests to me that it's not being found 'in the wild' as much as it is among the already hospitalized. Those already with delta getting co-infected with the more infectious new variant?
The fact that many 'civilised' nations instantly slapped a travel ban on 8 African countries when omicron was publicly identified tells me we still have a long, long way to go with this.
Anyway, here's a virologist saying why he thinks there was a 'dirty lab' in Cyprus.
https://qz.com/2110931/deltacron-varian ... w-variant/
While here, the scientist who first identified and reported it bolsters his initial statement of being real. He uses the argument that since it is mostly in hospitalized patients, it "...rules out the contamination thesis." Unless there's a whole new medical hygiene technology that sets Cypriot hospitals apart from the rest of the world when it comes to NOT being a haven of disease and contamination, then I can't see how he can so easily say that omicron didn't fly in through the open window.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... t-an-error