Ome cone is spreading incredibly fast, and the chances are that it will be the dominant variant in the u k within a couple of weeks. It's transmitting probably about three times faster than delta, under the existing you know, sort of measures we had in place. A lot of that seems to be down to its ability to evade the vaccine. There has been a lot of discussion about whether this omacronvarian could lead to milder symptoms in comparison to the delta variant. But if that does turn out to be true, the fact that it's so much more transmissible means that it is potentially much more dangerous. If a variant becomes more transmissible, that will quite often
As England moves to plan B, Boris Johnson has announced that all adults will be offered a booster vaccine by the end of December. But will that be enough to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed? Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, about the spread of Omicron, and what we can do to prevent a tidal wave of cases. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod