Caixin Explains: Why Omicron Is Taking Over the World

Two years into the pandemic, humanity has been racing against the fast-evolving virus as a number of variants have emerged, prevailed and added complexity to an unprecedented battle.

The rise of the omicron variant is making the fight against Covid-19 more challenging because it has shown much higher infectiousness than any previous variant. 

One reason omicron caused panic is its sheer number of mutations: Omicron has 32 changes to the coronavirus’ spike protein, allowing the pathogen to penetrate human cells and cause infection, compared with 16 mutations in the delta variant.