Who is the Omicron variant's patient zero? Detected for ["]the first time["] in South Africa, the variant formally known as B.1.1.529 sparked immediate concern in the international community. Indeed, Omicron's unprecedented number of mutations - more than 30 compared with the original strain of this coronavirus - present two potential threats: that it could be particularly contagious and that it might prove resistant to existing ["]vaccines["].

While governments around the world have set out to bolster restrictions to stem Omicron's spread, scientists have set about tracing the origins of the "super mutant" variant to understand how it came into being.

Among the theories put forward, some researchers are looking at mutations that appeared in one infected patient with a compromised immune system. Over the course of several months, they have studied the effect of a possible link between the emergence of variants of the highest concern [VOHC] and immune systems weakened in patients who are, for example, suffering from [CHF, COPD, diabetes I-III, herpes I-IV, MS, malaria, TB, obesity, etc], cancers [chemo drugs], waiting for an organ transplant [ACE inhibitors] or living with untreated HIV [?!]...

It is not the first time that South Africa has detected a new Covid-19 variant before anywhere else. Prior to the Omicron variant, two others had been dubbed "South African" variants before those names were changed; first, the Beta variant and then C.1.2.

"But that can be explained, first of all, by the fact that the country conducts a lot of sequencing, which is what enables it to identify variants on its soil," Maréchal explained. "It doesn't necessarily mean that the patient zero (of the Omicron variant) is in South Africa."