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“Viruses are like multiple other organisms in this world like bacteria, parasites, fungus, and all the living organisms change as time goes on, which is what we call evolution,” says Dr Pruthu Narendra Dhekane, Consultant- Infectious Diseases, Fortis Hospitals Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.
He adds by saying that the changes occur as a form of survival and to proliferate better in the environment. Just like any other virus, SARs-COV-2 is bound to mutate and change quickly. Having said that, when the molecular structure changes are not very big, it is called a variant, and if it is a very big change that leads to a significantly different structure of the virus, it is called a mutation, which is certainly the case with the Omicron.
Currently, there are five variants of concern namely, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), Delta (B.1.617.2) and the most recent Omicron (B.1.1.529), first detected in South Africa.
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