Omicron
A variant with thirty mutations on the spike protein outruns every previous strain in weeks.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
- Where
- Gauteng, South Africa · 26.2708° S, 28.1123° E
South African scientists reported the variant to the WHO on 24 November 2021, and within a month it was dominant on every continent. Omicron was markedly better at evading existing immunity and markedly less likely to cause severe disease, a combination that produced record case numbers alongside falling death rates. Its arrival ended the assumption that vaccination alone would end transmission, and began the shift to treating COVID-19 as endemic.