The Omicron variant advances at an incredible rate
Even if infections prove mild, that speed will have grave consequences
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH is a dizzying thing. In the week to December 8th Britain saw 536 new cases of covid-19 ascribed to the Omicron variant, less than 0.5% of the number caused by the dominant Delta variant. But the week before there had been only 32 cases of Omicron—and by December 14th the case number was over 10,000. Omicron looks set to become the country’s dominant strain in terms of cases before advent calendars run out of windows.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Seeing the need for speed”
International December 18th 2021
From the December 18th 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
“Tariffers” v “traders”: the new contest for Donald Trump’s ear
Eye-witnesses to the drama of the first Trump presidency brace for the sequel
The world is losing the fight against international gangs
Globalisation and technological progress are leading to a boom in organised crime
Half a loaf, at best, from the climate talks
This year’s negotiations made very modest progress
Is your master’s degree useless?
New data show a shockingly high proportion of courses are a waste of money
The perils of appeasing a warlike Russia
Finland’s cold-war past offers urgent lessons for Ukraine’s future
The danger zone between two presidents
The world’s bad actors will relish any power vacuum