Omicron News and Research

RSS

CDC releases updated guidance for contingency and crisis management in healthcare settings

With the growing number of COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant, and consistent with current understanding of the disease trajectory, CDC is releasing updated guidance for isolation and quarantine for healthcare workers, decreasing their isolation time after infection with COVID-19.

23 Dec 2021

Cryo-EM of Omicron variant reveals antibody evasion by spike-ACE2 complex

Researchers compare the obtained binding affinities to wild-type and Delta spike proteins to determine the impact of Omicron mutations.

23 Dec 2021

Emergency funding increased by £30 million to support arts, culture and heritage sectors during the pandemic

An additional £30 million in emergency funding has been made available through the Culture Recovery Fund to support museums, cinemas, theaters and heritage organizations with the impact of the Omicron variant this winter.

23 Dec 2021

Allele-specific RT-qPCR assay to identify SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater

Researchers develop a new allele-specific RT-qPCR to detect the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater.

23 Dec 2021

Omicron has enhanced infectivity that is only weakly neutralized by vaccination or prior infection

Scientists used virus-like particles and found that Omicron showed increased infectivity, relative to the B.1 and B.1.1 strains, which was similar to the Delta variant.

23 Dec 2021

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Researchers find that vaccine-mediated protection against SARS-CoV-2 is significantly reduced against the Omicron variant.

23 Dec 2021

Impact of the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Southern Africa

A new study has focused on the genomic profile and early transmission dynamics of Omicron. This study revealed the dominance of the Omicron variant in regions with high levels of population immunity.

23 Dec 2021

Armed Forces members to support the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust

An extra 184 Armed Forces members have been made available to support the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust (WAST), to increase the resilience of emergency responders during the winter period.

23 Dec 2021

Exploring immunity and severe disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study describes the findings of a seroprevalence survey intended to establish the infection rates and the incidence of severe COVID-19 through December 15, 2021, in Gauteng, a crowded province that compresses a quarter of the country’s people into less than 2% of its area.

23 Dec 2021

Assessing the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A recent preprint examines the proportion of Omicron infection and the risk of severe disease with this variant of SARS-CoV-2.

23 Dec 2021

Pediatric hospital admissions rise with omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant

A new study examines the impact of the Omicron variant on hospitalizations among children in South Africa.

23 Dec 2021

The transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV2 Omicron variant

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers developed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) model-inference system in South Africa to determine transmission dynamics and immune evasion associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

22 Dec 2021

Decline in protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in prior infected and fully vaccinated

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers investigated the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta and Omicron variants among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive individuals who were either naive, fully vaccinated, or had a previous infection to further investigate possible escape from vaccine- or infection-induced immunity by Omicron compared to Delta.

22 Dec 2021

Scientists develop methods to quantify the transmissibility of new COVID-19 variants

As the discovery of the new omicron variant illustrates, new COVID-19 variants will continue to regularly emerge.

22 Dec 2021

World leaders meet to discuss about COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics

The heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization held high-level consultations with Gavi and UNICEF on 17 December, 2021 aimed at increasing the use of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical medical countermeasures in low-income (LIC) and lower middle-income (LMIC) countries and supporting countries to be better prepared, resourced, and ready to roll out vaccines.

22 Dec 2021

T-cell response to Omicron after an mRNA COVID vaccine booster

In a recent prospective observational study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers determined Omicron variant-associated T cell responses before and after a third dose of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccination against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in anti-CD20-treated multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

22 Dec 2021

All carers are encouraged to 'Get Boosted Now'

A new study, published today by the University of Birmingham and UCL, adds further evidence to the importance of a booster vaccine for both carers and care home residents as they are encouraged to Get Boosted Now.

22 Dec 2021

More breakthrough infections but less severe COVID-19 with Omicron

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, an international team of researchers reported the occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) breakthrough infections (BTIs) among health care workers (HCWs) participating in a phase III vaccine trial in Sisonke, South Africa.

22 Dec 2021

Infect, replicate, and rapidly mutate: Computational virus modeling study

A new bioRxiv* preprint study led by Barbara A Jones of IBM Research-Almaden in San Jose, California, used computational modeling to investigate how viruses rapidly mutate as well as how they respond or adapt to different host conditions. They observed a range of behaviors from glassy dynamics, bimodal quasispecies distributions, and periodic steady states.

22 Dec 2021

UK reaches milestone of 30 million boosters as the drive continues to Get Boosted Now

More than 30 million people, over 56% of adults in the UK, have now had their COVID-19 booster during a record-breaking week for top-up jabs.

22 Dec 2021

Omicron News and Research

CDC releases updated guidance for contingency and crisis management in healthcare settings

Cryo-EM of Omicron variant reveals antibody evasion by spike-ACE2 complex

Emergency funding increased by £30 million to support arts, culture and heritage sectors during the pandemic

Allele-specific RT-qPCR assay to identify SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in wastewater

Omicron has enhanced infectivity that is only weakly neutralized by vaccination or prior infection

Researchers report loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Impact of the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Southern Africa

Armed Forces members to support the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Exploring immunity and severe disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Assessing the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Pediatric hospital admissions rise with omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant

The transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV2 Omicron variant

Decline in protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in prior infected and fully vaccinated

Scientists develop methods to quantify the transmissibility of new COVID-19 variants

World leaders meet to discuss about COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics

T-cell response to Omicron after an mRNA COVID vaccine booster

All carers are encouraged to 'Get Boosted Now'

More breakthrough infections but less severe COVID-19 with Omicron

Infect, replicate, and rapidly mutate: Computational virus modeling study

UK reaches milestone of 30 million boosters as the drive continues to Get Boosted Now

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

Latest News