Why a nosebleed is the key to understanding the attractiveness of Omicron

BBC video

Posted on 12/13/2021 06:39

Omicron is the coronavirus variant with the largest number of mutations since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2019. It has already been classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern”.

But could the virus be more deadly simply because it has undergone dangerous mutations?

Scientists say that simply identifying each change individually is not enough.

To discover the behavior of a mutated virus, such as an omicron variant, it is necessary to decipher the interaction between each of its genes.

This process is known as epistasis and reveals key data about the ability – or inability – of the virus to affect the population.

In this video, our correspondent Laís Alegretti explains the importance of studying the spread of the new coronavirus so that scientists can point to a possible end to the epidemic.

Check out the video above and text report.