Just as we thought the threat of coronavirus was receding, amid vaccination and herd immunity, a new variant of the virus (B.11.529) was detected in South Africa, prompting many countries to embrace travel restrictions and lockdown measures once again. On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new variant, which it termed Omicron, “a variant of concern”. The classification puts Omicron into the most-troubling category of COVID-19 variants, along with the globally-dominant Delta, plus its weaker rivals Alpha, Beta and Gamma.
(Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually meets health officials to get update on COVID-19 situation, in New Delhi on November 27, 2021.)
The variant, first detected on November 9, might pose a greater risk of people falling ill, according to experts. The WHO asked countries to enhance surveillance, sequencing and assess the risk of importation through international travel based on updated information on circulating variants and response capacities. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a two-hour meeting with senior government officials to discuss the situation. India was planning to resume all international flights from December 15 . But the PM asked officials to review the plan in the wake of the new Omicron concerns. On December 28, the Union government revised guidelines mandating that all international passengers entering India have to submit 14-day travel details and upload a negative TR-PCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal before the journey. The developments are yet another indication that the fight against Covid-19 is far from over.
In this explainer , Jacob Koshy looks at what we know about the Omicron variant. The current analysis suggests that in the southern African region, the new variant may be taking over the dominant Delta variant as well as another prominent variant called C.1.2, he writes. The variant could pose a threat to the progress made by India in its fight against COVID-19, but additional information is needed to reach conclusions, write Gautam I. Menon and Brian Wahl .
The Top Five
What we are reading this week - the best of The Hindu 's Opinion and Analysis
- Reversing follies in a haunted battleground : Institutionalised neutrality is a remedy that can stop Afghanistan from becoming a geopolitical pivot and a terror source, writes former Vice President Hamid Ansari .
- Socialists, liberals and Greens — all together : Germany’s unlikely trio formed a coalition under the leadership of centre-left leader Olaf Scholz to lead the country in the post-Merkel era, G. Sampath writes in The Profiles.
Double fault: Zhang Gaoli, the former Vice Premier of China, is at the centre of the Peng Shuai controversy. The way authorities handled the allegations raised by the tennis star raises questions for China’s ruling party, reports Ananth Krishnan .
Coups upend West Asia’s nascent democracies: As developments in Tunisia and Sudan again entrench autocracy, there are fears that reform could be extinguished, writes former diplomat Talmiz Ahmed .
- Setting the tone at Glasgow, the job ahead in Delhi: India, while moving to renewable energy, e-vehicle use, and a digital economy, needs to focus on sustainable well-being, writes Mukul Sanwal .
U.S. Watch
At the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum , convened after four years, in New Delhi, both countries committed themselves to integrating their economies across sectors to harness the untapped potential of the bilateral relationship. In the forum, co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the countries sought mutual market access and resolved to hold more talks on issues related to IT professionals, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. But there still are several sticky points that impede better trade relations between Washington and New Delhi. In this explainer , Suresh Seshadri looks into those critical issues.
Neighbourhood Watch
Afghanistan is known for untapped resources. After the Taliban took over the country on August 15, there were reports of China’s growing focus on the country’s resources. With the Taliban’s approval, Chinese companies have already started “ on-site inspections in Afghanistan ” to tap lithium, reports Ananth Krishnan , from Hong Kong. In another development that shows China’s growing influence in South Asia, Sri Lanka Cabinet cleared China Harbour Engineering Company’s role in the second phase of the Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal. The project was earlier to be developed jointly by Sri Lanka, India and Japan, until Colombo reneged on a 2019 trilateral agreement, reports Meera Srinivasan, from Colombo.
Meanwhile, tensions remained high around Taiwan, with a U.S. warship transiting the Taiwan Straight that divides the Chinese mainland and the self-ruled island claimed by China. The Biden administration’s decision to invite Taiwan for an online summit on democracy (which omitted Russia and China) also infuriated the Chinese. On Sunday, China sent 27 jets towards Taiwan , the latest in a long series of Chinese incursions into the so-called air defence identification zone of Taiwan.
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