The news comes from South Africa where the authorities have reported a new covid variant. This new covid variant is given the name Omicron. Health Secretary Mr Rajesh Bhushan in a communication to all the States, Union Territories asked the NCDC (National Control for Disease and Control) to stay on alert. – source Indian Express
New Covid variant hotspots
The new covid variant is reported in small numbers but is making a huge impact in the already panic-stricken markets across the globe. The world does not want to battle against another wave of the new covid variant. Therefore everyone is being extra cautious on the news. Prior to this bad news, we had a free fall of the Turkish Lira.
As if that was not very bad news. Tough time calls for tougher actions. The UK government has temporarily cancelled flights from 6 African nations and placed them on its travel red list. The current indications suggest that this new covid variant may be more transmissible than the delta variant.
- South Africa – 22 Cases
- Botswana – 3 Cases
- Hongkon – 1 case
So far we have an update from these three places where the cases of this new covid variant have been registered. Every new mutation of the covid 19 is posing a new risk and a new set of actions and guidelines. For instance, if we look at the new covid variant it has a “very unusual constellation”, now obviously a new mutation has to be unique and unusual. The rate of improvement is exponential in nature. How will Elon musk go to mars if people are unable to battle this menace on the planet earth?
Infectious nature
The 4 new cases that were found in Botswana of B.1.1.529 were of fully vaccinated travellers. “The preliminary investigations…have established that the new variant has a high number of mutations as compared to the locally predominating Delta variant” – Source Indian Express. Dr K Masupu, Coordinator of Botswana’s Presidential Covid-19 task force, said. The co-relation between the number of mutations and the infection rate among individuals is yet to be established. Therefore unless the new B variant turns into a rouge assassin we need not worry about it much. However a key area of concern is that scientist suggest that vaccines that we are currently using is less effective against this new variant of the virus.
However, this does not mean in any way to become careless. Following a general precaution and covid 19 protocols for a healthy lifestyle is a must. For more information on the safety and standard of the protocols, one can refer to the WHO website and check the latest information on the WHO dashboard.
Markets Nervous
The financial markets across the globe are nervous and a selling pressure is seen in the equities market across the globe. The stocks in the pharma sector are performing better than any other stocks or sectors in the market. As per the Indian Standard Time (IST). The markets are 2.50% down at 11:07 AM both the indices Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex are down and there seems to be no signs of recovery.
The world is battling with multiple changes of them number one is climate change and covid 19 the other are unsustainable level of debt. Over the past few years, the debt level across the globe has increased thanks to the printing of money to boost the markets and provide a cushion to the industries. This money comes at a cost and has to be returned thus we can see the quantitative easing to suck out money from the system undertaken by the US Federal Reserve.