New Omicron variant

[Lanark]

Two cases of the new Omicron were confirmed in the UK on Saturday while Germany reported a suspected infection.
Britain's Health Secretary said on Twitter that the two Omicron cases in the UK "are linked and there is a connection with travel to southern Africa."
The two infected people are self-isolating with their households and contact tracing is being carried out.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/27/ger ... 19-variant

Omicron variant ‘extremely unlikely’ to trigger major new Covid wave in UK, says vaccine expert
Professor Andrew Pollard reveals ‘optimism’ that current vaccines will prevent serious disease
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 65208.html

[Lanark]

The new name:
Nu and Xi were apparently the next letters in the Greek alphabet that have yet to be used for a variant, according to data on their website.
Internet pundits and politicians speculated that the group skipped Nu to avoid confusion with the word “new” and passed on Xi because of its written similarity to the name of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
https://nypost.com/2021/11/26/who-skips ... n-variant/