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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 90.230.55.237 (talk) at 11:24, 4 December 2021 (→‎Not all Norway cases are confirmed: new section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Great job everyone!

Great job everyone! Thanks for getting it out literally minutes from the press release! :) Kylerschin (talk) 18:41, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

KUDOS! I've been adding bits to the omnibus November timeline which can be used. kencf0618 (talk)

Omicron Timeline

Should the Omicron Variant have its own timeline? kencf0618 (talk) 19:05, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have to remind myself that this article was begun yesterday... I began Timeline of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant minutes ago, and it strikes me that it can, and should, be timed to the minute, press release by press release. (I also began the original timeline on the pandemic the day they shut Wuhan down, so I've some experience in this matter.) kencf0618 (talk) 16:35, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article [1] from April 21st, 2021 states that variant B1.1.529, now named "omicron", was found in Hidalgo, Mexico and was considered a local variant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.79.209.54 (talk) 21:05, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We need more reportage. kencf0618 (talk) 10:59, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ https://lajornadahidalgo.com/variante-britanica-con-presencia-en-hidalgo-desde-diciembre-ssh/

Nu and xi variants

What happened to nu and xi variants?? Georgia guy (talk) 19:51, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The avoidance of Nu & Xi is entirely in keeping with WHO nomenclature protocol. kencf0618 (talk) 09:57, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Which protocol? Does any evidence actually exist to support this statement? 109.249.184.203 (talk) 20:23, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Nu and Mu variants are there in other countries.49.178.168.249 (talk) 09:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"'Nu' is too easily confounded with 'new,' and 'Xi' was not used because it is a common last name," the WHO said, adding that the agency's "best practices for naming disease suggest avoiding 'causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups."

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/omicron-variant-why-who-skipped-nu-xi-for-new-covid-19-variant-1.5684453 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.14.83.56 (talk) 21:41, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nyt article. “ The W.H.O. skips forward two Greek letters, avoiding a Xi variant. ” article has responses from The WHO spokesperson on actual reasons why they skipped. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/28/world/asia/omicron-variant-name-covid.html Kitty4777 (talk) 15:46, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Where can I find Case Data?

Hi Guys, Great work on the article. Where can I find case data by county for this variant, so I can make a map like the one I’ve done in other variants like this

Countries with confirmed cases of Beta variant as of 25 June 2021
Legend:
  1000+ confirmed sequences
  250–999 confirmed sequences
  100–249 confirmed sequences
  10–99 confirmed sequences
  2–9 confirmed sequences
  1 confirmed sequence
  None or no data available

TapticInfo (talk) 20:17, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@TapticInfo: maybe in the sources here if they are reliable. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 23:31, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Ftrebien: Thanks TapticInfo (talk) 12:06, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@TapticInfo: The other articles about variants seem to stick to GISAID and Pangolin as reliable sources, probably due to their work on checking individual reports. Maybe it's interesting to use them as a basis and add other sources only when needed. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 13:15, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

TapticInfo, thanks for all your hard work with the choropleth maps. I'm rather curious about your criterion for shifting from the number of cases to per capita. kencf0618 (talk)

Nu re-direct

Go to SARS-CoV-2 Nu variant, which is a re-direct here. I support that the re-direct should be deleted because no one will know it as the Nu variant. Any thoughts?? Georgia guy (talk) 21:40, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support. I don't think people will be searching for a variant that doesn't exist, much less expecting it to redirect here. --Xarm Endris (talk) 22:12, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree and question whether there would be concensus on this because it was called "Nu" in many articles and sources online prior to it being skipped over for Omicron Daesin (talk) 01:56, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
May we add a redirect explanation using Template:Redirect with a little text explaining that there is no nu variant, but that greek letter was expected to be used for the next VOC? Like:
"SARS-CoV-2 Nu variant" redirects here. Nu was expected to be used for the next variant and therefore still appears in media. WHO decided to use omicron instead.
--ElLutzo (talk) 02:18, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That sounds reasonable given the circumstances. --Super Goku V (talk) 03:33, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We should also explain its name. Apokrif (talk) 20:41, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I definitely disagree with the redirects, why aren’t we just grouping Nu & Xi in their own page and discussing why they were skipped?

The section talking about skipping them is omicron centric (for good reason), but since omicron is such an expansive page, people who specifically want to know about nu & Xi aren’t getting value out of this section. The Greek alphabet is confusing enough and skipping letters makes it much less apparent/ approachable.

You’re getting articles upon articles written about both nu & Xi being skipped, which makes it a topic of significant interest completely outside of the omicron variant itself. Kitty4777 (talk) 15:40, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The section talking about Nu and Xi is brief and confined to the Nomenclature section as far as I can tell. The other article that I know of that covers this also does so briefly. Personally, I don't see much reason to expand either section or to change the redirects, even if they are a "topic of significant interest" at the moment. --Super Goku V (talk) 20:43, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tree depicting the Omicron variant

Omicron variant and other major or previous variants concern of SARS-CoV-2 depicted in a radial tree derived from NextStrain on 2021 Nov 26

I created this tree (derived from a visualization I generated using NextStrain) and wonder if you all think it might be helpful in contextualizing Omicron's evolutionary position in the SARS-CoV-2 lineage? — soupvector (talk) 04:03, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Soupvector: I like that, I think it's useful to show that this isn't in the delta cluster. Opabinia regalis (talk) 07:16, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Looks useful and appropriate. Several different sections could make sense. In the Epidemiology section (the evolutionary tree is related to epidemiology)? or Characteristics (the characteristics relate to evolution)? or Classification (the classification is evolution-related)? Boud (talk) 19:16, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Omicron variant and other major or previous variants concern of SARS-CoV-2 depicted in a tree scaled radially by genetic distance, derived from NextStrain on 2021 Dec 01
I have updated the tree using the data set curated by Emma Hodcroft and available here on NextStrain, now scaling by genetic distance rather than time (which is the NextStrain default, used in my prior version above). I hope this seems like an improvement - it's more obvious now (i) how homogeneous Omicron is, and (ii) how long its branch is from the rest of the tree. I defer to others about whether/where to include. — soupvector (talk) 22:30, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Identifiers

B.1.1.529 and Omicron are currently in the article. There should be other names, from the other logging databases, and possibly other codenames besides Omicron (VUI-xyz or VOC-xyz for example?) -- 65.92.246.43 (talk) 05:16, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

When they're there, I'm sure they will be added; and also to the Wikidata item SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (Q109739412). -- The Anome (talk) 09:15, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
OK, got some new identifiers here: https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/ The GISAID clade identifier for Omicron is GR/484A, and the Nextstrain clade identifier is 21K. -- The Anome (talk) 09:23, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I have now created the property proposals Wikidata:Property proposal/GISAID identifier and Wikidata:Property proposal/Nextstrain identifier on Wikidata, to contain this information on the Wikidata entities for this and other relevant articles. -- The Anome (talk) 10:06, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
It would be helpful for readers who are not in this field, to provide links to an article that explains the nomenclature for the mutations as well as the variants. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DrKN1 (talk • contribs) 01:32, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Omikron cases on flights to the Netherlands

Under History it says "the Dutch health ministry estimated that about 85 [...] were infected with the virus." This suggests, in the context of the Omicron page, that these were all Omicron cases. However that is not true, the virus variant of those cases has not been determined yet. 2A02:A465:8E35:1:ADC3:FC05:2E61:3D9B (talk) 07:29, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"South African variant" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect South African variant. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 November 27#South African variant until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Joseph2302 (talk) 09:13, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bitcoin price irrelevant

OK, there's a source that says that the price of assorted cryptocurrencies fell, but I can't see any actual link beyond merely happening at the same time: "Bitcoin itself has been under pressure since .. earlier this month", i.e. the effects of the most recent Tether magic money tree pump were wearing off. It's been shown repeatedly that the price changes of Bitcoin in particular are far more around such pumps and - on a more short term level - 'Barts' to burn margin traders rather than anything in the real world, short of things like China banning mining. This is not that. Lose it? --13:53, 27 November 2021 (UTC)Lovingboth (talk)

Cryptocurrency is a risk asset too. Show us particular pumps and whales and you might have a point, but as it is markets are a sea of red everywhere due to Omicron. kencf0618 (talk) 15:55, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think bitcoin and omicron are relevant to each other; furthermore, the article says bitcoin, but the article itself not once actually mentions bitcoin's value falling (only oil companies, it seems). Beansohgod (talk)
I've added another citation. Market is a market is a market. kencf0618 (talk) 17:02, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
It sounds silly, but there are sources reporting it. We should go with what the sources say. If you can find a few source that contradicts this, then we can consider changing or removing what it says in the article. --Super Goku V (talk) 22:27, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hong Kong

In the article Hong Kong is said to have reported one case. There have actually been two, from the very moment it was announced that the B.1.1.529 strain was detected in their samples.[1][2][3][4] On the other hand the territory has also ban travel from southern Africa.[5][6] 1.64.47.144 (talk) 14:38, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Already done 2402:3A80:6C5:CAF9:ED2B:9972:C275:302F (talk) 06:23, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Aviation restrictions

We need a table for the plethora of aviation restrictions. Several countries have implemented such against... several southern African states by now? Which? We need more detail, and in table format rather than prose, methinks. kencf0618 (talk) 16:39, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Probably Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic would be a better place. But requirements changed often even before omicron. The IATA Travel Centre[1] is usually a good reference for the current situation, but there may be some delays. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 19:20, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That's an excellent reference, but not Omicron specific, which is what we're here for. I'll dig around a bit... kencf0618 (talk) 19:32, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Kencf0618: This will probably be outdated in a day or two. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 21:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ "COVID-19 Travel Regulations Map". IATA Travel Centre. IATA.

Do we have reliable enough sources to write that this variant looks less pathogenic than the others?

Main article: SARS-CoV-2_Omicron_variant § Symptoms

Apokrif (talk) 20:33, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No. kencf0618 (talk) 20:45, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Travellers with it in Botswana

According to the Government of Botswana, it was travellers who had it there first - not local residents. --2001:8003:DDB1:C600:E4DA:3B11:9302:2016 (talk) 20:59, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't say international travelers. kencf0618 (talk) 11:04, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bottom line of table on omicron detections

The world total comprises 9 countries, not 8; please correct. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.196.170.191 (talk) 22:46, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done --Fernando Trebien (talk) 23:00, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

All four initial cases reported from Botswana occurred among fully vaccinated individuals.

Should this be All four initial cases reported from Botswana occurred among fully vaccinated visitors.? Since the four individuals are not natives of Botswana. --2001:8003:DDB1:C600:55F3:F0D1:C395:CA42 (talk) 23:33, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Source here. --2001:8003:DDB1:C600:55F3:F0D1:C395:CA42 (talk) 23:35, 27 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Pathogenicity

Milder disease than other variants (symptoms include body aches, fatigue and slight cough). Rapid heart rate also possible. 2601:543:8101:F950:6B:F70C:577:AA64 (talk) 00:29, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Citation needed. kencf0618 (talk) 11:05, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

are antibody, antigen, PCR tests affected?

is there an impact on later flow tests, Roche antibody test, PCR tests? as in do they detect omnicron or not? or do some essays need to be adjusted? cannot find this information anywhere right now. 2A01:4B00:85FD:D700:A5A6:2CF0:693E:4D44 (talk) 01:12, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Check the diagnosis section. kencf0618 (talk) 11:05, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone please adjust the wording in the diagnosis section? It says "Rapid antigen tests are likely not affected." I don't know whether this means the tests show positive for covid if the person has omicron, or if it means the tests do not detect omicron and show a false negative for covid if the person has omicron. I suppose it probably means the tests likely still work; would someone please verify this and then I suggest changing to "Rapid antigen tests would likely still work", or other wording that makes it clear. Thanks. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 21:10, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

more countries should be included

If this variant was detected with people coming from Malawi, Madagascar and Egypt -as the article claims - then there were cases there of this variant. Why are these countries not listed in the "Confirmed cases by country"? The person must have caught it where they originated from. I can understand if someone flew from South Africa and had a lay over in one of these, but in these cases they did not fly South Africa to Madagascar to Germany for example. I think if the map is put in then this should be marked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 05:40, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Because for example the Egypt case was detected in Belgium, not in Egypt. Belgium is listed.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:08, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

BUT it must have been in Egypt even if it was not confirmed and tested there (in that case it is not so clear). But anyone in Malawi that then went somewhere else and was detected with it must have had it in Malawi too. So I know this screws up the calculations for the table adding up the numbers. BUT for the map - it could be added.

BTW now cases in Austria. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 10:18, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Deducing the infection site like this is not straightforward. The person coming from Egypt could have been there in a connecting flight or could have stayed in Egypt only briefly and caught it somewhere else earlier. And if the case was detected a few days after landing, then the person could have caught it on the flight or at any of the airports. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 12:36, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delta variant

How good is this vaccine? Even the delta variant is not covered by the vaccine. This is also not discussed in the delta variant article.49.178.168.249 (talk) 09:38, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Which vaccine? kencf0618 (talk) 11:06, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Covid Vaccines. The one we have so far.49.178.203.107 (talk) 12:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject." The studies of vaccines vis-à-vis Omicron shall be cited as they are announced. kencf0618 (talk) 14:47, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Another south African variant

I noticed. There was another South Africa variant earlier this year.49.178.168.249 (talk) 09:40, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Am I correct that so far, there have been no reported deaths from Omicron?

. 203.194.55.212 (talk) 09:55, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As of this writing, no. kencf0618 (talk) 11:08, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Misleading article

The article here is misleading:https://theconversation.com/travel-bans-arent-the-answer-to-stopping-new-covid-variant-omicron-172736

How can they say that travel bans are not effective? Travel bans - alongside other measures - slow down or stop the spread.49.178.168.249 (talk) 09:57, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The title says "not the answer", it doesn't say "not effective". However, a reason for the ineffectiveness is given in the text of the article: "But Omicron has already been detected in other regions, including the UK, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong and Belgium. So while a travel ban on southern African countries may slow the spread and buy limited time, it's unlikely to stop it." A nearly complete lockdown of all borders - and intracountry borders between regions, towns, villages, suburbs, China-style - would be effective if the whole world were a dictatorship. But it's not. The article as a whole gives the author's arguments for why a travel ban is "not the answer".
More to the point: The Conversation is generally considered reliable as far as I know, and the text used in this Wikipedia article from the source seem to be a fair summary of key points made in the source. Boud (talk) 19:01, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

in denmark and austria

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/europe/omicron-two-denmark-returnees-from-south-africa-test-positive-for-new-covid-19-variant.html

https://www.stol.it/artikel/chronik/erster-omikron-verdacht-in-oesterreich-aus-nordtirol-gemeldet — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 10:20, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Current event template

I support that any article with the {{current}} template must have it removed once the newest edit is more than 10 minutes old. Any opinions anyone has on this?? Georgia guy (talk) 15:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This obviously does not make any sense. The template says that the article is not necessarily up to date, and the fact that it has been last edited less than ten minutes ago does not change this. Additionally, a logical fallacy would be that it is impossible to add the template since it would have to be immediately removed.--Ymblanter (talk) 15:26, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
And re-added. And removed. And re-added... -- The Anome (talk) 15:53, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
While that's an interesting metric, it's not a useful one. The rate of editing activity undoubtedly correlates with page views. Furthermore this is going to be a current event for a long, long while... kencf0618 (talk) 15:54, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
From the documentation: Generally it is expected that this template and its closely related templates will appear on an article for less than a day; occasionally longer. I think this should stay as long as Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. How I understand those two together is: it should stay there while we see significant changes to the event most days. Case counts are not so significant, but perhaps first detections in specific countries are. I'd say it would stay on for a few more days, but then it may have to be re-added as the variant is fully characterized by scientists. --Fernando Trebien (talk) 16:48, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, it can be removed soon if not now, the only "recent" thing that probably qualifies is the characteristics of the virus its self like transmissibility, severity and immunity resistance. Just the numbers don't likely qualify as per the current consensus for the pandemic. Crouch, Swale (talk) 22:24, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Omicron findings

Hello everybody. I found that in a article on Haaretz, there were twelve suspected cases of Omicron. I had to edit. Link: https://www.haaretz.com/amp/israel-news/top-israeli-health-expert-covid-vaccine-reduces-severe-illness-in-omicron-cases-1.10421310 Ant1234567 Also, I discover that Austria has a suspected case from Reuters. Link: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/austria-reports-first-suspected-case-omicron-covid-19-variant-2021-11-28/ (talk) 20:14, 28 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

PCR tests

Pcr tests can not tell you any variants. Wikipedia's become a platform of misinformation 105.12.1.238 (talk) 10:09, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Due to a coincidental side-effect, already existing tests can detect the omicron variant in this case; see [7] -- The Anome (talk) 11:15, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 29 November 2021

Please change +Also the omicron variant may be more infective than other variants+ to +Also, the omicron variant may be more infective than other variants.+

Specifically, add a comma after 'also' since it's at the beginning of a sentence. ~~Beansohgod (talk) 15:02, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done, thanks Beansohgod.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:39, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ómicron

La nueva variante del COVID-19,puede llegar a hacer mucho más superior a las ya conocidas por nosotros para mi yo siguiero que todos los países q aún no hayan registrado casos relacionados con la nueva variante que vayan poniendo medidas porque puede ser cuestión de horas para que la variante llegue a otros países donde aún no hay casos ejemplo : Costa Rica , Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, México, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Perú, Panamá, Educador, Cuba, Jamaica, etc.... Tiene que estar listos y ojala que este mensaje llegue a manos de algún presidente Gracias. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oficial 89 (talk • contribs) 16:02, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Por supuesto.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:38, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

in france

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/29/covid-omicron-variant-live-updates/#link-CIUQRETKZRFSXLZBXY2Q2BTCBI

8 cases suspected — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 17:45, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it seems France is waiting on the results of 8 cases. [8] SpookiePuppy (talk) 22:01, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
IMPORTANT NOTE. For anyone who proposes coloring France in this article's map to indicate the number of cases in France once it exceeds 0, please color French Guiana the same. Many people forget that French Guiana is part of France. Georgia guy (talk) 22:10, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As Hong Kong is part of China? Surely we can color French Guiana differently as we can color Scotland or or other regions of a country differently. How do we decide? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 04:32, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Algeria is no longer one of the overseas departments and regions of France (French: départements et régions d'outre-mer), whereas French Guiana and Réunion are to this day such. kencf0618 (talk) 15:23, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

NOW that France has confirmed a case in Réunion it is relevant:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/30/covid-news-live-who-warns-omicron-poses-very-high-risk-new-variant-detected-in-at-least-a-dozen-countries?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-61a5e44e8f08ccaa4131a852#block-61a5e44e8f08ccaa4131a852: 

Read more

FacebookTwitter 2h ago 08:45 France confirms Omicron case on Réunion One person has tested positive for the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion and six of his contacts are being tested. That makes it the first confirmed French case.

Official researcher Dr Patrick Mavingui said the person was a 53-year old man who had travelled to Mozambique and made a stop-over in South Africa.

The patient, who returned to La Reunion some two weeks ago, is in isolation, Mavingui told local French media.

Reuters report French government spokesman Gabriel Attal Attal confirmed the case. “Six of his contacts have been put in isolation, three coming from his family circle and three from his professional circle,” he told Europe 1 radio. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 11:10, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please add Reunion to the Confirmed cases by country table. Thanks. [1] Sciguy999 (talk) 12:03, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/

Short description wording

I have just noticed that the short description states: "November 2021 variant of COVID-19 virus". This is problematic since as far as I understand it, the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Should we not be indicating that Omicron is a variant of the virus SARS-CoV-2, so something like: "November 2021 variant of SARS-CoV-2". Another way of amending this would be: "November 2021 variant of the virus that causes COVID-19", but that is more long-winded. Please note this may need to be changed on Wikidata as well. All suggestions welcome. SpookiePuppy (talk) 21:42, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just my opinion: this is not a problem, since "COVID-19 virus" obviously means "the virus that causes COVID-19" -- what else could it mean? And it's short, as a short description should be. Also, covid-19 is a well-known word, whereas some readers might wonder what SARS-CoV-2 is and have to look it up, whereas a short description should be quick and easy, not require lookup to understand. I see your point, that covid-19 is a disease, not a virus; but in my opinion, the phrase "covid-19 virus" nevertheless refers to a virus. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 23:57, 29 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your reply Coppertwig. I see what you are saying. This prompted me to take a look at what the short descriptions currently state for the other 4 main variants. I was surprised to see how much they vary:
  • Alpha variant: "Variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19"
  • Beta variant: "Variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus"
  • Gamma variant: "Variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus"
  • Delta variant: "Variant of SARS-CoV-2"
I still think it should be amended, but we will have to see what other editors think. SpookiePuppy (talk) 20:52, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Good point. Consistency. It's fine with me however you want to do it. One option might be to edit all the short descriptions to include "the virus that causes COVID-19" as it does for Alpha. I'm not insisting on anything. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 03:28, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
There's a fair amount of redundancy in there too. While "Variant of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona Virus-2 virus" indisputably has a certain ring to it, I'm all for consistency and simplicity here. kencf0618 (talk)

Semi-protected edit request on 30 November 2021

Whereas the Omicron variant is reported from South Africa, it is important to note that the variant was first detected or recorded in Botswana and not Africa. Neither the science nor origin for the Omicron variant is clear or confirmed yet. Kumangtum Gibson Christian (talk) 12:26, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Also, I'm pretty sure Botswana is in Africa? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:11, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I also heard something similar on the news to what Kumangtum Gibson Christian said above. Also, a google search for "omicron botswana" brings up the Boston Globe with "How a Harvard-affiliated lab in Botswana became the first to identify the Om..." (1 day ago). I'm sorry I can't right now pull up the whole article or get a full citation but perhaps someone else could easily do that. It could have been first reported in South Africa, but before that recorded (sequenced) but not reported, in Botswana; at that time perhaps it wouldn't have been known to be a variant of concern. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 03:24, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 30 November 2021 (2)

In the statistics table, why do Japan appeared twice? 2402:B400:444C:5AC0:6D5C:A4B2:35FC:CF5E (talk) 13:16, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Already done Fixed here. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:23, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I was wondering if it was possible to add links to the countries' articles in the table if we can do it. If it is possible, I don't have the expertise to do so, so maybe someone with more brain cells could do it. ℂ𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕂𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 (talk) 18:47, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I changed it. For some reason someone decided to use {{flagu}} instead of {{flag}}. PBZE (talk) 23:21, 30 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks ℂ𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕂𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 (talk) 15:54, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 December 2021

Please move the map File:Map of countries with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant cases.svg at the top of the article/page as its being placed in the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant pages.

I did it. Nico di devilo (talk) 08:08, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Nico di devilo: You did it wrong. I did not say to change the template. Please leave it if you did not follow. I told to move it up not replace image at the template. You replaced it! 2402:3A80:1C44:43:4504:598A:C12B:9BA (talk) 09:41, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
 Done  melecie  t - 09:45, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Melecie: Thanks but you also moved the text to lead, please move the text to the section. 2402:3A80:1C44:43:4504:598A:C12B:9BA (talk) 09:47, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
 Done  melecie  t - 09:50, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

now in Ireland

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/nphet-confirms-case-of-omicron-variant-of-covid-19-found-in-ireland-1.4743877 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 12:23, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 December 2021 (2)

Two cases proved in Norway, source in norwegian here: https://www.nrk.no/vestland/omikron-varianten-pavist-i-oygarden-1.15753055

Please update the table with a row for Norway and source. 84.212.60.4 (talk) 12:25, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done - added the following related edit => As of 30 November 2021, the Omicron variant was reported to been spread to 20 nations, including the Netherlands which detected the variant there as early as 19 November 2021.[1] - Stay Safe and Healthy !! - Drbogdan (talk) 13:44, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (1 December 2021). "Omicron Variant, in at Least 20 Nations, Spread Earlier Than Was Known - With evidence growing that a worrisome new coronavirus variant is highly contagious, health officials issued warnings that vulnerable people should not travel". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2021.

Map suggestion

The colors in the map are not easily discernable for people with color deficiencies. Would it be possible to use different colors or add a pattern to help make each area more distinct? 71.231.47.78 (talk) 13:10, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Which ones would you suggest? Beansohgod (talk) 13:54, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Darker shades of red since 100-999 is the largest catergory, it can be shaded dark red while the others can be shaded slightly more darker — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2401:7400:6001:B643:F835:EB44:65A6:9284 (talk) 05:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Timeline Deletion?

Timeline of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has been nominated for deletion. I've already made my argument, so weigh in if you'd like. kencf0618 (talk) 17:15, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks kencf0618 for letting us know on this page. I've just added my comment over there. Really hope it doesn't get deleted. SpookiePuppy (talk) 18:40, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You're welcome. The contrast between the slow build of Swine Flu and it is... really something. kencf0618 (talk) 19:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nigeria detection in October

The Epidemiology section, and the timeline (on a separate page) both report Nigeria having detected the variant in October (found by re-analysing older samples, I think). I also heard this reported on the CBC radio news today. I suggest also mentioning this fact somewhere in the History section. If the History section is, in a sense, a summary of the Timeline page, then I think this fact is important enough to be included, being as far as we know the earliest detection. Thanks. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 18:00, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen this retracted. Let us wait until the situation becomes more clear.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:50, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the result of an inaccurate press release, corrected shortly after (it was actually in the article's History section, but was removed once the local authorities+media corrected the error). It was a variant of concern, but Delta rather than Omicron. RN1970 (talk) 07:59, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
These are the guys to follow: https://www.krisp.org.za/ngs-sa/ngs-sa_network_for_genomic_surveillance_south_africa/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kencf0618 (talk • contribs) 19:53, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Certainly, for South Africa and to some extent other southern African nations (where they're involved, too), but not for Nigeria where they have no involvement. RN1970 (talk) 23:46, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Omicron in USA?

Hi, I just want to know about Omicron. I am a person who researches about Omicron. Today, I found a shocking fact. Would America have more Omicron cases? I found it on the Statistics section, where I edit the most. I feel a bit shocked to see that. Ant1234567 (talk) 22:29, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. The references have been provided there. — soupvector (talk) 22:38, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Map colour unclear

The 1-9 cases colour code on the map is too light and quite indistinguishable from the 0 cases colour code from the map, making it inconvenient to see from a small mobile screen. Is it possible to darken the contrast of the shades of red on the map? (under statistics section) 111.65.61.13 (talk) 00:55, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The tree that is scales radially by genetic distance

The main picture says, "Omicron variant and other major or previous variants concern of SARS-CoV-2 depicted in a tree scaled radially by genetic distance, derived from NextStrain on 2021 Dec 01" all of the major, noteworthy "spikes" are labeled, red is omicron, orange is Delta, green, blue beta and gamma (I'm going from memory), on the right of I believe the green one is a yellow spike, it isn't addressed what this is at all, and as far as I can't tell there's not way to look up what variant this yellow "spike" even is. Is there a way to clarify this? 24.0.180.49 (talk) 05:13, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That's likely Lambda but might be Mu. I didn't label everything for clarity's sake; those interested in further details can click the tree, look at the description information, and click the NextStrain link there (or this specific configuration) to investigate details. — soupvector (talk) 17:25, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Autapomorphy?

The intro uses the words "novel and autapomorph", but there's no mention of autapomorphy anywhere else in the article, and no WP:MEDRS cites are provided to support it. Can someone take a look at this, and fix it one way or the other? -- The Anome (talk) 10:48, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I see it. I'll look into it, but I'll give the original author (or anyone else, really) at least two days to link a source before I ask for it to be removed. Thanks a bunch. Beansohgod (talk) 12:29, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I've removed the reference to autapomorphy for now, and added a BMJ cite for "novel". I can't find anything to support the autapomorphy claim, even after extensive searching. -- The Anome (talk) 12:31, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Statistics

Resolved

Table with countries: 3 omicron cases were confirmed in Switzerland (2.12.2021 at 10:00 a.m.). Source: Swiss government and BNO Nd.Eckert (talk) 11:16, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, added. In the future, please provide a direct link to the exact source. I found one via google, but an edit request will typically be denied if it does not contain the exact source link. RN1970 (talk) 12:28, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

finland map

Finland is in the table, but not on the map. m. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 16:14, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

singapore

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-says-monitoring-situation-after-news-of-omicron-detection-in-singapore — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 16:20, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done - The 2 cases for Singapore have been added to the statistics chart citing The Straits Times as kindly provided above. SpookiePuppy (talk) 18:37, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Removed. Well-intended, but as described they've only been detected via S-gene dropout, which is found in a couple of variants (many nations have many of those that are awaiting confirmation). Hence "preliminarily", pending results from sequencing which is required for confirmation of Omicron vs. other variants with S-gene dropout. Quote:
"Their PCR test results revealed the presence of S-gene Target Failure, which may be associated with the Omicron variant, the ministry added. MOH said the National Public Health Laboratory is conducting whole genome sequencing to confirm if the two cases had indeed contracted the Omicron variant."
Sequencing can take a week or more, but Singapore tend to be pretty fast and I suspect we'll know within a few days. RN1970 (talk) 23:59, 2 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Well spotted RN1970. I missed that in the main article I was relying on. I never followed the link embedded in the article which made it very clear that the 2 cases had not been confirmed. SpookiePuppy (talk) 19:07, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

GISAID Data

In the statistics section, the text above it might want to say 2 December 2021, instead of 1 December 2021, as this is constantly being updated. If there is a way to code it to display the current day … then that might be helpful. 2601:543:8101:F950:7456:8F93:7084:DE53 (talk) 00:57, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Malaysia

Malaysia has a case of the Omicron variant. Please update the article. JJ09012011 (talk) 06:48, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 3 December 2021

Please add " As per the recent study Omicron variant increases reinfection risk by three-fold.[1][2] " under SARS-CoV-2_Omicron_variant#Possible_consequences. 2402:3A80:6E8:2C90:59DA:42FC:1E3D:B10E (talk) 09:50, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ "Omicron Covid variant increases reinfection risk by three-fold: Study". Business Standard India. 3 December 2021.
  2. ^ Pulliam, Juliet R.C.; van Schalkwyk, Cari; Govender, Nevashan; von Gottberg, Anne; Cohen, Cheryl; Groome, Michelle J.; Dushoff, Jonathan; Mlisana, Koleka; Moultrie, Harry (11 November 2021). "Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of the Omicron variant in South Africa". doi:10.1101/2021.11.11.21266068. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

2402:3A80:6E8:2C90:59DA:42FC:1E3D:B10E (talk) 09:50, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review. Lets wait for actual peer reviewed, non preliminary studies. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:23, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder whether it has a higher reinfection rate in vaccinated people because the vaccine is not specific to the variant, but otherwise is similar to other variants. In other words, maybe the variant is no worse than other variants but the vaccine is not as good for it. In other words, I think we just don't know yet. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 03:12, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You seem to be confusing reinfection (SARS-CoV-2 infection after prior SARS-CoV-2 infection) with breakthrough infection (SARS-CoV-2 infection after COVID-19 vaccination). The preprint / news story linked above is about reinfections, not breakthrough infections, so it's not about vaccination. — soupvector (talk) 05:24, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 3 December 2021 (2)

Please allow me to edit too. Talha Arain 07 (talk) 17:35, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: requests for decreases to the page protection level should be directed to the protecting admin or to Wikipedia:Requests for page protection if the protecting admin is not active or has declined the request. - FlightTime (open channel) 17:37, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Request For Edit Page

Hello Everyone !

Allow me to edit too. I will do my best Talha Arain 07 (talk) 17:37, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This page is semi-protected, which means you must be logged in for a certain amount of time, as well as make a certain amount of meaningful edits, so come back later when you've gotten a few edits under your belt. Get out there, Wikipedia's massive! Beansohgod (talk) 17:54, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, Talha Arain. If you have ideas how to change the page, just tell us your ideas on this talk page, and then if other editors agree, they can make the changes. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 03:10, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Primer caso de la variante en México

México confirma el primer caso de ómicron en el país. [[9]]--Mr LuiXan (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Done - Added to Statistics table. SpookiePuppy (talk) 19:01, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

request

The sentence "The variant is characterized by 30 amino acid changes, three small deletions and one small insertion" makes no sense. Deletions and insertions are mutations, i.e. changes in the viral genome, "amino acid changes" are not. They are phenotypic changes.

A consistent and accurate statement would be: "The variant is characterized by 34 mutations: 30 misssense mutations, three deletions, and one insertion."

<https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/04%3A_Molecular_Biology/4.08%3A_Mutation_Types>

Perhaps it would make sense to leave it as is except change "changes" to "substitutions"? I don't know. Also OK to leave as-is. It seems to me to be saying that 30 amino acids are changed to different amino acids. That does make sense (whether it's correct or not I don't know). Changing it to "missense" (just two s's in a row, I think?) would perhaps mean a codon (DNA or RNA element) is changed, which is kindof saying something different from changing an amino acid. A virus does contain amino acids; a mutated virus contains mutated (i.e. "changed") amino acids as well as mutated DNA or RNA that coded for the mutated amino acids. It's OK to mention only the amino acid changes -- it's like saying someone has red hair; you don't necessarily always have to say they also have genes for red hair every time you mention their hair. ☺Coppertwig (talk) 03:05, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Singapore

Singapore has 4 Omicron variant cases in total now. Please update it. JJ09012011 (talk) 23:37, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please could you suggest a reliable source for this claim (is there one in Malay that could help?). I have just searched and have not been able to identify any source to back up the claim of 4 Omicron cases. There were news reports of 2 "probable" cases, but they are still awaiting confirmation. SpookiePuppy (talk) 23:48, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Omicron Q’s

Hello. I would like to ask these questions about Omicron: 1. What is the R0 of Omicron? 2. How transmissible is Omicron when compared to Delta? Is it more transmissible? 3. What is the risk of being reinfected from Omicron compared to their variants? 4. Does Omicron has a mutation that is from the cold (making it a resemblance)? 5. What is the exact number of mutations does Omicron have? 6. Is Omicron dominant in South Africa? 7. How frequent does new cases double with Omicron with Delta compared? (explain in every _____ day(s). 8. Does Omicron possess severe symptoms? 9. Will Omicron dominate the world and displace Delta? 10. Would a variant be more contagious than Omicron and develop into a new variant from Omicron? (Q’s above)

Note: I wrote those 10 Q’s because I would ask more about the variant. I am researching news articles about the variant. Ant1234567 (talk) 01:00, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Finland now 5 cases

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11942036 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.153.64.166 (talk) 04:32, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Zoonosis

It's about time we write about the speculations that Omicron, rather than arising in immunocompromized humans, is a zoonosis (in this case, human infects animals, where it mutates, and animals infect humans back -- as it happened with minks in Denmark). E.g., [10]. Anyone feel up to the task?--Nø (talk) 09:59, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the article deserves to be featured. After all, it fully describes the subject and has so many footnotes! --Wasa Kawasaker (talk) 10:40, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 4 December 2021

Update India in stats. Its 3 now.[1]

References

  1. ^ Kumar, Parimal. "Omicron-Infected Man Returned To Gujarat From Zimbabwe, India's 3rd Case". NDTV.com. Retrieved 4 December 2021.

2402:3A80:6FD:B303:55D:9023:51BF:FF3E (talk) 11:00, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not all Norway cases are confirmed

Norway only have 19 confirmed cases of the omicron variant. Source: https://www.fhi.no/nyheter/2021/antall-bekreftede-omikron-tilfeller-per-3.-desember/ 90.230.55.237 (talk) 11:24, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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