‘High hopes’ that Omicron is last variant of concern

Local health experts have expressed high hopes that Omicron – which is spreading fast across the globe – is the last COVID variant of concern, but they warned that vaccination is imperative.

The past week has seen the highest number of new COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, but hospital rates remained relatively low. Initial data suggests Omicron is milder than previous variants while some experts said they expected it to be the last variant of concern.

Virologist Chris Barbara told Times of Malta “certainly the fact that the virus is spreading fast around the globe, together with the high percentage of people who are being vaccinated, makes the odds for the pandemic to subside much higher”.

He also expressed hope that Omicron will be the last variant of concern.

“This is possible, and I seriously hope that it will be so. Certainly, this is what happened in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic,” the clinical chair of Mater Dei’s pathology department added.

Head of infection control Michael Borg said coronaviruses were among the viruses that showed most mutations in the viral kingdom. He expressed caution: “Considering that vaccination remains so low in so many developing...