What the spread of Omicron means for the world

IT HAS BEEN less than a month since , the latest covid-19 variant of concern, was first spotted by scientists in South Africa. In just a couple of weeks Omicron has probably reached almost and is now the in several countries, including Britain, Denmark, Norway and parts of southern Africa. A spread this rapid leaves no doubt that Omicron will soon replace Delta, the variant that currently causes most covid cases globally. Scientists from Imperial College in London explained what this means for the world in a pair of studies published on December 16th.The first study rounded up data on Omicron’s spread in Britain. It found that each infection tends to produce at least three more. That is similar to the speed at which covid was spreading in Europe in the pandemic’s first wave in early 2020, before vaccines were available or countermeasures imposed. At this rate, cases are doubling every two days—a trend that quickly becomes an almost-vertical line when daily cases are put on a chart.