Omicron’s Variant Origin

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – • The latest of the five variants of concern (VOC), omicron, is far more transmissible than its predecessor delta

Concept –

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is a ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus. It is characteristic of it to mutate and evolve over time.
The latest of the five variants of concern (VOC), omicron, is far more transmissible than its predecessor delta and has the ability to evade immunity. But its origin remains unclear, much like the one found in Wuhan.
Its 50 mutations, 32 of which are on the spike protein alone, worried many. This is where the variant gets its vaccine-evading and high transmission characteristics from.
Currently, there are three popular theories of omicron’s genesis.
- The most widely believed theory is that the virus persisted in an immunocompromised person who suffered from COVID-19 for a long period. This relation has been explored deeply in several studies yet to be peer-reviewed.
- A second theory suggested that a “reverse zoonotic event” could be behind omicron, where it may have evolved in an animal host — possibly a rodent — and thereafter jumped onto humans, triggering another wave of COVID-19 infections.
- The third and final theory suggests that the variant evolved in a population where genome sequencing is extremely sparse or non-existent. Despite scientific advancement, there are large swathes of inhabited lands — especially in southern Africa — where the infrastructure to carry out genome sequencing remains absent.