Rajeev Choudhury
At the end of the second year of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation had labelled the Omicron variant as ‘Variant of Concern’ during November 2021.

Though compared to the Delta variant, the risk of developing a severe infection is lesser in the infections caused by the Omicron variant, the scientists say.

The high transmissibility of the variant resulted in scientists across the world expressing hope that the Omicron variant may be the last variant of concern and herald heard immunity.
However, the extremely high transmissibility of the variant increases the chances of mutations which may lead to the emergence of newer variants in near future, says Dr Leonardo Martinez, an epidemiologist with Boston University.
"The faster Omicron spreads, the more opportunities there are for mutation, potentially leading to more variants," Leonardo Martinez, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Boston University, said.
Epidemiologist Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, a fellow at Federation of American Scientists says what is worrisome is that in-hospital transmission of COVID19 is really unfortunate (and risky)—yet it is happening a lot more than before; due to overcrowded hospitals, poor  mask wearing, inferior quality masks, and inadequate ventilation or air disinfection.
People should undergo tests to be sure of being COVID19 negative before ending isolation, he added.