Top US virology scientist Anthony Fauci's observation he made on Tuesday last that Omicron "almost certainly is not more severe than Delta" is likely to alley fear to a large extent. However, his is a cautious optimism that does not completely rule out a worse-case scenario. Admitting that the new variant of Covid-19 is highly transmissible ---far more than Delta, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser clarifies that it would take weeks before the severity of the new strain is known. But early indication suggests that it is milder than Delta, the variant that has rampaged the world like an unrelenting killing agent.
What is reassuring is that the ratio of the number of hospitalisation in South Africa, the place of origin of this highly mutated strain, is far less compared with that of Delta. Even far more reassuring is that not a single death has so far been reported either from South Africa or from the 40 or so countries where Omicron has spread. The long-time director of the US National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has reminded people that alongside its potential for unprecedented high infection, its re-infection rate is also comparably much higher. This means that patients recovered from Covid-19, who have antibody in their systems and vaccinated people are both prone to be infected by the new strain.
As long as the latest variant does not kill or debilitate patients after recovery, it certainly does not pose a severe threat although the sufferings it causes can be physically and psychologically draining. If this is of some concern, the more concerning is Dr. Fauci's remark that the level of severity of the new strain may emerge when it spreads throughout the rest of the world. Clearly, he points out that its behaviour may change in different continents, countries and climes depending on racial differences. What shape it takes with further mutation among the peoples elsewhere is unpredictable.
SARS-CoV-2 is a pathogen that possibly has transformed itself unlike any other in the history of viruses. Its variants of concern are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and the latest Omicron. The variants of interest are Lambda and Mu which also have their predecessors like Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota and Kappa. All these did not give the world a nightmarish time as Delta has done.
No one can say for sure it will stop at Omicron. Who knows how it will reshape itself and take the world by storm! There is the lurking fear that the human race may not lead a normal life again just because coronavirus has come to stay forever in some form or other. Or, even more ominous is the prospect of another severer pathogen or quite a number of them emerging soon to emaciate or exterminate the present civilisation.
That is an ominous prospect facing the mankind with all its scientific and technological progress. In fact, man's overarching reach aimed at dominating natural order and increasing material gains and physical comfort is going to be his undoing. Spoiling natural resources beyond all limits and leaving no area sacrosanct have their backlashes and it is exactly where the most intelligent animal on the planet Earth has erred beyond redemption.
Still credit goes to the species for coming up with an answer every time to any scourge it has faced. This time the vaccines were developed to fight Covid-19 within an unprecedented short period. It has worked wonder. But the efficacy of vaccines against the latest variant is yet to be determined. According to Dr. Fauci, results of laboratory experiments that tested the potency of antibodies from the current vaccines against Omicron are likely to be available soon, perhaps within a week. This will shed light on the pharmaceutical challenges coming from the new variant.
So far the human race has conquered all such challenges with aplomb and there is no reason why it cannot do so now and in the future. But scientists do not formulate policies, they may suggest what ought to be the course of action in the face of colossal natural threats. As the Glasgow climate summit in the UK and those held earlier in Kyoto and Paris demonstrate, the policymakers often ignore their suggestions and are hardly serious about keeping their promises made at such high-level international meetings.
Nature has been increasingly in turmoil because of global warming and human abuse and unrestrained exploitation of natural resources are mainly to blame for this. Equally true is the fact that human failure to maintain a workable balance with flora and fauna has led to creation of ever newer virulent pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, policymakers will have to make a choice between material prosperity and premature annihilation of the species. To that end consumerism and luxurious lifestyles have to be restrained to a manageable level. Alongside this, a total moratorium on the development of more advanced and destructive arms, nuclear arms in particular, is most warranted right at this critical point of human civilisation. The enormous fund thus saved may be channelled to restore Nature and eliminate want and hunger from the face of the Earth.
