Researchers unravel omicron’s secrets to better understand COVID-19

The Source • February 9, 2022August 24, 2022

In two recent studies, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found evidence that the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 causes less severe disease than previous variants — at least in rodents — but that many antibody-based therapies may not be effective against it. (Image: Getty Images)

When South African scientists announced in November that they had identified a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, they also reported two worrying details: one, that this new variant’s genome was strikingly different from that of any previous variant, containing dozens of mutations compared with the original virus that emerged in 2019; and two, that the new variant — dubbed omicron — was spreading like wildfire.