A medical worker performs a CT scan on a COVID-19 patientMOSCOW, Jan 23Future varieties of coronavirus may be more infectious than the omicron, World Health Organization expert Maria van Kerkhove warned on the Science in Five Minutes program on the WHO website. «The more this virus circulates, the more it has the ability to change,» the specialist said. Kerkhove emphasized that Omicron will not be the last strain of SARS-CoV-2 — in the future, there is a high probability of a new variant of the infection from the category of concern. According to her, it is not yet known what the new strains will be, but you can be sure of their greater infectiousness. «They will need to surpass the options that are circulating now,» the expert explained. Kerkhove specified that new strains can cause a more or less severe course of the disease , while being able to avoid immune defenses. The expert urged not to treat «omicron» as a «weak» variant of the virus, although on average it leads to a form of COVID-19 with fewer complications.
Omicron could end the pandemic in Europe, WHO said Omicron, or B.1.1.529, was found in Botswana and South Africa in November. According to experts, those who have been ill and vaccinated can become infected with it. The new variant has already been identified in 110 countries, including Russia. It spreads faster than the previous delta strain and becomes dominant. Vaccination remains the most reliable way to protect against coronavirus. According to the head of the Russian Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, the share of vaccinated among seriously ill COVID-19 is less than 0.03 percent, while the vast majority of patients in hospitals are unvaccinated. jpg» />November 30, 2021, 11:15 Infographic Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirusInfographicView
