Omicron Dr Mike Ryan answers a question about the right to informed choice

Michael Joseph Ryan is an Irish epidemiologist and former trauma surgeon, specialising in infectious disease and public health. He is executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme, leading the team responsible for the international containment and treatment of COVID-19.

Dr. Mike Ryan answers a question about the right to informed choice, and explains WHO’s position on the issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination

Nov 28, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdXAWACB_Y

Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

 26 November 2021| Statement | Reading time: 2 min (616 words)

The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus. The TAG-VE was convened on 26 November 2021 to assess the SARS-CoV-2 variant: B.1.1.529.

The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24 November 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.

This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage.

There are a number of studies underway and the TAG-VE will continue to evaluate this variant. WHO will communicate new findings with Member States and to the public as needed.

Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a VOC, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron.

As such, countries are asked to do the following:

• enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.
• submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database, such as GISAID.
• report initial cases/clusters associated with VOC infection to WHO through the IHR mechanism.
• where capacity exists and in coordination with the international community, perform field investigations and laboratory assessments to improve understanding of the potential impacts of the VOC on COVID-19 epidemiology, severity, effectiveness of public health and social measures, diagnostic methods, immune responses, antibody neutralization, or other relevant characteristics.

Individuals are reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated.

For reference, WHO has working definitions for SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Interest (VOI) and Variant of Concern (VOC).

A SARS-CoV-2 VOI is a SARS-CoV-2 variant:

• with genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape; AND
• that has been identified as causing significant community transmission or multiple COVID-19 clusters, in multiple countries with increasing relative prevalence alongside increasing number of cases over time, or other apparent epidemiological impacts to suggest an emerging risk to global public health. 

A SARS-CoV-2 VOC is a SARS-CoV-2 variant that meets the definition of a VOI (see above) and, through a comparative assessment, has been demonstrated to be associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance:

• increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; OR
• increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; OR
• decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics

Source: https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern

Omicron Variant – NEW COVID Variant Worse Than Delta?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KPpskbCFmY

New Covid Variant Identified In Africa; Heavily Mutated Strain Called “A Big Jump In Evolution”

Tom Tapp 

Thu, November 25, 2021, 8:28 PM   ·  3 min read

UPDATED with WHO news: The U.K. added six African countries to its travel quarantine list on Thursday after a new, potentially more-transmissible variant of Covid-19 was identified there. The BBC said the countries are South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.

Twenty-two positive cases of the variant, which is being called B.1.1.529, have been recorded in South Africa, according to multiple reports. Some 59 cases have been detected worldwide, and only in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana. But some experts are concerned.

“This variant did surprise us,” Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform told the New York Times. “It has a big jump in evolution, many more mutations than we expected, especially after a very severe third wave of Delta [variant].”

The World Health Organization has called a special meeting for Friday to the discuss the new variant and what it might mean for Covid treatment and vaccines.

“We don’t know very much about this yet,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid, said in a livestreamed Q&A on social media. “What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.”

The UK Health Security Agency also has its eye on B.1.1.529.

The new variant has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein alone, which raises fears of increased transmissibility, according to a South African researcher cited by the Times. The new variant has 10 mutations alone on the ACE2 receptor, which helps the virus to enter cells. That’s five times more mutations on that structure than the Delta variant exhibits, according to the researcher.

In Botswana, the health ministry confirmed four cases of B.1.1.529 were found fully vaccinated patients. The single case in Hong Kong was carried there by a traveler from South Africa, according to multiple reports.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a statement today that “detected cases and percent testing positive are both increasing quickly, particularly in Gauteng, North West and Limpopo [provinces]. Seventy-one percent of new cases today are from Gauteng, which accounts for about 25% of the country’s population, said the statement. In Gauteng case rates are rising rapidly, and test positivity is 31.7%. For comparison, in California it’s under 2%.

“Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be. Developments are occurring at a rapid pace and the public has our assurance that we will keep them up to date,” said Professor Adrian Puren, acting executive director of NICD.

Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/heavily-mutated-covid-variant-identified-002823307.html

New COVID-19 Variant Emerges Out of South Africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwDMI0nOnAY

Safe zones start on Monday in Barbados

Article by sherrylynclarke@nationnews.com

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 7, 2021

The Government of Barbados has given the green light to the creation of safe zones.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley hinted they could be on the cards for frontline and healthcare workers back in October during a national address, and they were announced in the Emergency Management (COVID-19) (Safe Zones) Directive), 2021, issued on November 6.

Safe zones will go into effect on November 8 and will apply to “any area, business or establishment” “to which only persons who comply with the provisions of the Directive may go or may transact business.”

Any employee who makes a false declaration – either about the COVID-19 test result or vaccination status – on summary conviction, could face as much as one year imprisonment in addition to fines as high as $50 000.

The areas in the Directive include:

• Health service institutions;
• Nursing homes, private hospitals and senior citizens homes;
• Dental offices (registered);
• Doctors’ offices (registered);
• Paramedical professionals (registered);
• All COVID-19 testing sites;
• Quarantine and isolation facilities designated by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO);
• All other non-governmental organisations that provide health services.

The owner or operator of the establishments listed above “shall ensure that there is prominently displayed at the entrance to the institution, a notice issued by the Chief Medical Officer indicating that the institution is a safe zone,” the directive said.

“An employee who is fully vaccinated shall produce a copy of his vaccination card or vaccination certificate to the person in charge of the institution and that person shall keep a copy of the card or certificate which shall be retained among the records of the institution.”

A person is considered to be fully vaccinated if they have completed the full regimen of approved COVID-19 vaccines at least 14 days prior to trying to enter the premises.

Those employees who are not fully vaccinated will be subject to COVID-19 testing “once every seven days or at such intervals as the Chief Medical Officer determines”.

COVID-19 testing will also be required for vaccinated employees. At least 25 per cent will be tested once every 60 days or again, as the CMO determines. Any employee who tests positive for COVID, will be exempt from further tests for 90 days from the date of discharge from the isolation facility.

Employers are advised to prominently display testing schedules.

“The owner or operator or person in charge of an institution shall not permit an employee who fails to comply with this Directive to enter the institution or to remain within the precincts,” the Directive continued, adding no action would be taken against employees or owners who failed to comply with this within 14 days of the Directive being issued.  (SAT)

Source: https://www.nationnews.com/2021/11/07/safe-zones-start-monday-barbados/