Covid-19: Scientists suggest looking for Omicron clusters, collecting more clinical data

WHO also has suggested using PCR tests to detect the new variant at faster rates than previous surges in Covid-19 infection

Medical experts on Saturday called for an elaborate search to look for clusters of Omicron infections in and around South Africa and its neighbours countries besides collecting more clinical data to decide on the future course of action, even as they noted that the new variant though being a “nasty” one, can be detected easily.

“Imposing travel restrictions, restricting entry from few countries is not going to help either prevent or control the spread of Omicron. It’s akin to closing a stable door after a horse has bolted. Instead, identify clusters of cases of recent origin and do genomic sequencing,” said Giridhara R Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru.

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The epidemiologist said Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong could not be the only areas where Omicron had travelled. "These areas are the ones that have probably better surveillance and genomic sequencing and hence have reported in a timely manner. Absence of reporting is not absence of circulation.” Other countries that reported the Omicron so far are Israel and Belgium.

Notwithstanding the perceived disease threats associated with the new Covid variant, medical researchers seek more clinical information to figure out how big the risks are from Omicron and the ways to tackle it.

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“We need more clinical information on a large scale,” senior scientist Gagandeep Kang, a member of a working group on Covid-19 vaccines established by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts at the WHO, told DH.

One advantage with the new variant, Kang said, was that it could be detected using the standard RT-PCR test because of “S-gene drop out” - a part of the virus genome was missing in B.1.1.529– as was the case with the Alpha variant.

But with barely any Alpha variant in circulation at the moment, the PCR test can be used to find out the presence of the virus quickly while genetic sequencing can be used for confirmation.

With several laboratories indicating that a widely used PCR test can be used as a marker for this variant, the WHO also has suggested using such a test to detect the new variant at faster rates than previous surges in Covid-19 infection.

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