Thanks to early detection, scientists are saying the world has a head start on handling the latest variant of concern. This means that this highly-mutated version of the coronavirus likely won\u2019t bring the world back to square one in this pandemic.<\/p>\n Mutations of a virus are inevitable. Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a new SARS-CoV-2 variant<\/strong> that was first reported to the World Health Organization<\/a> on November 24 2021,<\/strong> raising alarms among researchers and the global community.<\/p>\n It was reported that Omicron came from South Africa.<\/strong> Today, the Omicron variant can also be found in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic, the United States and Canada. <\/strong>These are some of the countries that have recently confirmed cases<\/strong> of the Omicron variant.<\/p>\n We are still in the early stages of learning about the Omicron variant and its potential impact on the world. The World Health Organization has classified Omicron as a Variant of Concern (VOC)<\/strong> due to having mutations known to display increased transmissibility, illness severity, or decreased effectiveness in diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics and public health measures such as social distancing.<\/p>\n The number of rising Omicron cases across the globe suggests that it is highly infectious and highly transmissible. It hasn\u2019t spread out of control yet, but we must work together to ensure Omicron doesn\u2019t spread beyond our control.<\/strong><\/p>\n Omicron is heavily mutated<\/strong> with 43 spike protein mutations compared to Delta\u2019s 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n Preliminary evidence also suggests that people who have been infected by Covid-19 could <\/strong>become reinfected<\/strong><\/a> easily with Omicron compared to other VOCs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Currently, it is <\/strong>still unclear whether or not Omicron causes more severe symptoms compared to other variants. However, it seems that it may be milder than the Delta variant.<\/p>\n If Omicron continues to show signs that it\u2019s milder in severity than Delta, that\u2019s good news. That\u2019s even better news if it spreads more quickly than the Delta variant. Why? Because when two variants of a virus are circulating, the variant that infects more people more quickly will tend to dominate<\/a>, and it\u2019s great if the milder one dominates.<\/p>\n Understanding the true level of severity of Omicron will likely take a couple more weeks.<\/p>\n The good news is that rapid Covid tests such as the <\/strong>Circle HealthPod portable Covid test<\/strong><\/a> can detect variants of Covid, including the Omicron variant.<\/strong><\/p>\n Clinical studies for HealthPod conducted at the University of Oxford were able to successfully detect > 99.9% of known Covid-19 strains. This includes:<\/p>\n Circle HealthPod is like a lab in your pocket. It can detect Covid variants within 20 minutes, from the comfort of your home. The HealthPod is a molecular test that uses a technology called Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification<\/strong>. The molecular tests employ an equivalent alternative amplification method to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests \u2013 the reference standard in Covid-19 testing.<\/p>\n The HealthPod is a portable Covid test that is highly reliable for detecting Covid-19 in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals<\/strong>. Molecular tests are considered more accurate compared to methods such as antigen tests.<\/p>\n When news hits of a highly-mutated variant of Covid such as Omicron, it\u2019s a reminder to stay safe and continue to take extra safety precautions.<\/strong><\/p>\n News of Omicron has people being more cautious and taking extra steps in terms of safety protocols. This includes mask-wearing, hand sanitizing, social distancing and performing regular at-home Covid tests with a device that can detect variants<\/strong>, such as the Circle HealthPod<\/strong><\/a> portable Covid test. <\/strong>Safety precautions such as these will help prevent Omicron from spreading out of control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By now, you\u2019ve likely heard of the Omicron variant, a new highly-mutated variant of Covid-19. People around the world are on high alert with regards to this… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8516,8534,778,755,879,786,780,5271,49,8532,4387],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-at-home-dna-test","tag-detected","tag-financial-wellness","tag-gift-of-health","tag-healthpod","tag-meals","tag-omicron","tag-portable","tag-teeth-grinding-en","tag-variant","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"circlemagazine-circledna-omicron-variant\"](\"https:\/\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/4031818\/pexels-photo-4031818.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=1&w=500\")
<\/figure>\nWhat Exactly is the Omicron Variant?<\/h2>\n
How Dangerous is Omicron?<\/h2>\n
Can the Circle HealthPod Portable Covid Test Detect the Omicron Variant?<\/h2>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/circledna.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/content_images_assets.prenetics.com_blog.circledna.com_wp-content_uploads_2021_10_22104430_Group-45681_adobespark.png\")
<\/figure>\nHow Does The HealthPod Detect Variants Such As Omicron?<\/h2>\n
Keep Yourself Safe<\/h2>\n