Tag: Omicron Variant

Stop the presses! There's a new Covid variant abroad. But disappointingly for the thinning ranks of Zero Covid fanatics, it's no more harmful than Omicron, its ancestor. Keep calm and carry on.

40% of Brits are still taking Covid tests and wearing masks, three years after the nation was plunged into its first lockdown, as zero-Covid fanatics call for a new mask mandate amid a rise in infections.

With a non-sterilising vaccine like the Covid ones, high viral load in the vaccinated helps drive vaccine-escape variants – a fact that should have been factored into the vaccination programmes but wasn't.

Initially we were told that we would only vaccinate the vulnerable. We then proceeded to vaccinate everyone. Now we’re back to only vaccinating the over-50s, and only a minority of 50-59 year-olds are taking it up.

Boston University unexpectedly found itself at the centre of controversy this week when its researchers published a paper on their creation of a Covid mutant that kills 80% of mice. How worried should we be?

Omicron has no known evolutionary connection with the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and is milder than flu. Isn't it time to accept that it is a different virus and turn the page on the 'COVID-19 pandemic'.

Covid death rates have reached record highs in New Zealand as the country faces a new Omicron wave, despite high levels of vaccination.

A new study from Qatar shows that Omicron infection provides strong protection against reinfection (80%). Those like Imperial's Prof Danny Altmann who have been scaring people by telling them otherwise are wrong.

The Government of South Africa has announced the end of all Covid restrictions in what it describes as a "very historic day" and a "turning point since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the world and in the country".

Vaccine effectiveness against Omicron drops to zero within six months but natural immunity remains robust for at least a year, a new study from Qatar in NEJM has found.