Some encouraging news on the Covid-19 front: Data on the new Omicron indicates that it is unlikely to be more severe than previous variants, says World Health Organisation emergencies director Michael Ryan.reports Mr Ryan as saying on Tuesday, “In fact, if anything, the direction is towards less severity,” though he emphasised that more research was needed to determine how severely Omicron would affect people.
Omicron, thought to be much more transmissible than earlier variants, prompted countries to pre-emptively close their borders again, sparked fears of fresh lockdowns.In related news, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus responsible for the ongoing pandemic is able to partially evade two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
But Dr Alex Sigal, who heads the first study to take a direct look at how Omicron might impact people already vaccinated, says those who have recovered from Covid and those who have been vaccinated are likely to have strong protection against Omicron, as are those who have received booster jabs.”There is a very large drop in neutralization of Omicron by BNT162b2 [Pfizer/BioNTech] immunity relative to ancestral virus,” he tweeted. “Omicron escape from BNT162b2 neutralization is incomplete.
3. Omicron escape from BNT162b2 neutralization is incomplete. Previous infection + vaccination still neutralizes
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.