Recently, there is a COVID-19 mutated variant, B.1.1.529 discovered in South Africa and called “Omicron" according to the World Health organization's suggestion. This is not yet clear whether omicron is more transmissible from person to person. It causes the infection by the presence of spike protein which facilitates a virus' entry into the host cell. Is vaccination suitable for this variant? Up to the present, we have received very little information about the omicron which mainly depends on previous experiences in other COVID-19 variants. Thus, some possible treatments of omicron have been proposed in Western and Chinese medicines.
In western medicine, COVID-19 antibody-drug such as “Sotrovimab" is still effective to fight against the omicron variant. Sotrovimab is a SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody that targets the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding domain (RBD) and locks the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein for mediating the spike-ACE2 interaction. Anti-viral drugs such as “Remdesivir" are also thought to be effective for the omicron variant. Remdesivir is an inhibitor of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase which reduces and suppresses the virus replication. (To be continued)...