GAP iNTERDISCIPLINARITIES A Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies ( ISSN – 2581-5628 ) Impact Factor: SJIF - 5.047, IIFS - 4.875 Globally peer-reviewed and open access journal. GAP iNTERDISCIPLINARITIES – Volume - V Issue I January – March 2022 12 https://www.gapinterdisciplinarities.org/ OMICRON SARS-COV-2 VARIATION: A NOVEL CHAPTER IN THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC Dr. Vishwesh P. Joshi, Dr. Aanal Joshi M.D.S. 2 nd Year P.G. Student, Department Of Conservative Dentistry And Endodontics, NPDCH, Visnagar. vishweshjoshi1905@gmail.com B.A.M.S. On Nov 24, 2021, about 22 months since the first informed case of COVID-19 and after a global estimated 269.5 million cases and 4·9 million deaths. A new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VoC) omicron was appeared. Omicron arisen in a COVID-19-weary world in which anger and frustration with the pandemic are rife amid extensive negative influences on social and economic wellbeing. Previous VoCs appeared in a world in which natural immunity from COVID-19 infections was common. This fifth VoC has emerged at a time when vaccine resistance is increasing in the world. The emergence of the alpha, beta and delta SARS-CoV-2 VoCs were connected with new waves of contaminations sometimes across the whole world. The increased transmissibility of the delta VoC was linked with, amongst others, an advanced viral load. Longer duration of infectiousness and in height rates of reinfection because of its ability to escape from natural immunity which caused in the delta VoC quickly becoming the globally foremost variant [1]. The delta VoC lasts to drive new waves of infection and remnants the dominant VoC during the fourth wave in many countries. Concerns about lower vaccine effectiveness because of new variants have altered our understanding of the COVID-19 end game disenchanting the world of the notion that global vaccination is by itself adequate for regulatory SARS-CoV-2 infection. VoCs have highlighted the importance of vaccination in combination with present public health prevention measures for example masks as a pathway to extreme endemicity [2]. The first sequenced omicron case was conversant from Botswana on 11/11/2021 and a few days later one more sequenced case was conveyed from Hong Kong in a traveller from South Africa. Numerous sequences from South Africa trailed after initial identification that the new variant was related with an S-gene target failure on a specific PCR assay because of a 69–70del deletion analogous to that empirical with the alpha variant [3]. The initial known case of omicron in South Africa was a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 on Nov 12, 2021 although it is likely that there were unidentified cases in numerous countries across the world before then [4]. In South Africa, the mean number of 282 COVID-21 cases per day in the week before the detection of omicron increased to 810 cases per day in the following week, partly qualified to increased surveillance. COVID-19 cases are increasing quickly in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The early doubling time in the fourth wave is higher than that of the previous waves (figure, appendix). The main concerns about omicron include whether it is more infectious or serious than other VoCs and whether it can circumvent vaccine protection. Immunological and clinical data are not yet available to provide conclusive proposal [5]. We can induce from what is known about the mutations of omicron to deliver preliminary indications on transmissibility and immune escape. Omicron has some deletions and more than 31 mutations, several of which (eg, 68–71del, T96I, G145D/146–147del, K417N, T478K, N502Y, N654Y, N679K, and P682H) overlay with those in the alpha α, beta β, gamma γ, or delta δ) VoCs. These deletions and mutations are known to lead