In the early days of November, laboratory technicians at Lancet Laboratories in Pretoria, South Africa, found unusual features in samples they were testing for the coronavirus.
Essentially, a gene was missing in what would be a normal genome profile of the virus. PCR tests weren't detecting one of their expected targets, a signal that something about the virus had changed.Just a few days later, the same phenomenon was reported at Lancet's Molecular Pathology Department in Johannesburg.Dr. Allison Glass, a pathologist with Lancet, said the discovery coincided with an increase in positive cases of Covid-19 in parts of South Africa.
For example, on November 11, four foreigners leaving Botswana tested positive for the coronavirus -- tests that would later reveal the Omicron variant.Biden should quickly revisit Omicron travel ban, says this CEOAlso on November 11, a 36-year-old man from Hong Kong arrived home from a 20-day trip to South Africa, traveling via Qatar. Two days later, while in quarantine, he tested positive. Genome sequencing confirmed Omicron.
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