That does not necessarily mean that Omicron is intrinsically more transmissible than Delta. We’ll know more about the variant’s growth rates in different geographies within the next few weeks.īut the rapid increase in cases across South Africa is concerning - and suggests that Omicron is outcompeting Delta in that nation, said Trevor Bedford, an expert on viral evolution and surveillance at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Omicron: We don’t yet know its transmission rate or incubation period. And Delta has an incubation period of only four days, faster than the six days seen in the original virus, so people are more quickly contagious. Delta changed that - infecting about six people.

What really matters here is the combination of mutations and not any single mutation on its own, according to Kristian Andersen, an infectious disease researcher at Scripps Research.īut here’s a clue: Because so many are on the spike protein, they may enhance the variant’s ability to infect cells and evade immunity.Īs the world discovered with Delta, higher transmissibility puts unvaccinated individuals at great risk.ĭelta: On average, the original SARS-CoV-2 virus spread from one person to two or three. What are all of these mutations doing? There’s not enough information yet to say whether they’ll make omicron worse than Delta. While it kept many of the most successful mutations found in earlier variants, including Delta, it also possesses changes found nowhere before. Omicron: It’s a mutation monster - at least 32 are in the spike protein and 10 in the receptor-binding domain. Kuchipudi of Penn State University, who studies viral evolution. Specifically, two are in a molecular hook, called the “receptor-binding domain,” helping it cling to cells more tightly, according to Suresh V. Of these, nine are in the spike protein, the protrusion on the surface of the virus that helps it latch onto human cells.

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