The omicron coronavirus
variant, first detected in South Africa’s Gauteng province, has upended the
world’s plans of a quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the
virus had shut down international travel and put an extreme strain on the supply
chain. Just as countries around the world were planning to reopen borders and
limp back to normalcy, a new variant has thrown a spanner into the works.

A highly-mutative
variant, scientists believe that omicron may prove to be even more
transmissible that the deadly Delta variant. As nations prepare to counter the
new strain, here’ a look at how the variant was detected and what steps did
South Africa take to alert the world to this potentially virulent strain.

Also Read | How was Omicron, the new COVID variant, named?

It was on November
19, when while performing genetic sequencing on COVID-19 samples that Raquel
Viana, the head of the Lancet laboratory, found eight samples with a very large
number of mutations. She immediately called up her colleague at the National
Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa, gene sequencer Daniel Amoako.

Daniel and his
team kept sequencing genes on select samples for the next two days to find that
all of them had the same mutations. At this time, they also realised that they
had observed a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections in specific regions of the
country.

Also Read | How does Omicron compare with other COVID variants?

Upon realising
that there could be a new variant in the works, the NICD team alerted South
Africa’s department of health and other labs who also started conducting
sequencings only to end up with similar results.

Next, the NICD
team entered the data they had obtained into the GISAID global science
database. Upon entering details, they found Botswana and Hong Kong had also
reported similar sequencings.

Raising a
worldwide alarm, the NICD team then decided to alert the World Health
Organization (WHO). The detection and action against the omicron variant have
been sooner than in case of other variants. For this, the WHO has congratulated
South African scientists for their swift action.

Also Read | WHO cautions against rushed travel restrictions over new COVID variant

However, it is
still to be seen whether the swift alert was soon enough. As of Wednesday, the
omicron variant has been reported in at least 12 countries across the world and
nations have taken drastic action, including some like Japan, which have completely
shut down entry of travellers.