Lots of people think the ‘novel’ coronavirus has as little patience as they do; it doesn’t and it’s concern is with its survival and spread. So, the emergence of another variant with more problematic mutations shouldn’t really be a surprise. The omicron variant (variant B.1.1.529) has been found in Southern Africa:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed it a virus ‘of concern’:
The WHO stated: ‘Preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of reinfection with Omicron (ie, people who have previously had COVID-19 could become reinfected more easily with Omicron), as compared to other variants of concern, but information is limited.’
Countries are beginning to close borders as a first response:
The WHO gave an explanation of why we’re now at omicron: ‘Two letters were skipped—Nu and Xi—because Nu is too easily confounded with ‘new’ and Xi was not used because it is a common surname and [the] WHO best practices for naming new diseases … suggest avoiding ‘causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups,’:
Jamaica: Political Economy 