US expert warns Omicron will not be the last worrying variant

According to the New York Post, Dr. Francis Collins commented that the SARS-CoV-2 virus seems to continue to mutate from the original strain first discovered in Wuhan, China.

“It is very likely that this is not the last variant that will attract attention and cause concern,” Colline said, speculating that Omicron developed in an immunocompromised person who was infected with another variant of the virus.

“This is the variant with the most mutations we have seen so far. It has about 50 mutations compared to the original Wuhan strain. Omicron appears to have evolved in an immunocompromised person who was unable to fight the virus. This is a hypothesis but it seems very plausible. So the virus could have been in the immunocompromised person for several months. During that time, the virus would have had the opportunity to accumulate more mutations,” he said.

The US expert also warned that "a similar scenario could happen in the future and lead to the emergence of other variants. This scenario will continue to happen if the global population does not have full immunity. We may have to witness new variants emerging and will have to continue using another letter in the Greek alphabet to name that variant".

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Omicron as a variant of “concern,” although there is no evidence yet that it causes more severe disease or is resistant to existing vaccines. However, patient records from researchers in Tshwane, South Africa, the “epicenter” of the Omicron variant outbreak, suggest that the new variant may cause less severe COVID-19 than previous variants. Meanwhile, another study found that Omicron increases the rate of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2.

Since it was first detected in South Africa, the variant has spread to more than 40 countries around the world. Experts say more time is needed to understand and determine how severe the variant is in humans.