Covid-19: How dangerous is Omicron?

 

Covid-19: How dangerous is Omicron?

I Lead-in.

1)     Take two minutes to write down your associations with the word ‘virus’. Work in pairs and compare your lists. What are the similarities and differences in your lists? Ask follow-up questions to find out more about other students’ associations with the word ‘virus’.

2)    What viruses are dominant around the world today? What steps are governments and scientists taking to contain the spread of viruses?

 

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to their definitions. Use three words in your sentences.

1.	spread	A.	to join together
2.	transmission	B.	to stop something from happening
3.	to designate	C.	objects or information used to prove that something is true or not true
4.	concern	D.	to give something to someone
5.	spike protein	E.	something that delays the process from happening
6.	to bind	F.	to say officially
7.	surveillance	G.	coming as a preparation before a more important action
8.	to prevent	H.	something that makes people feel worried
9.	contagious	I.	to slowly destroy something
10.	severe	J.	to start using a plan or a system
11.	preliminary	K.	component of coronavirus structure that binds to the cells of (human) body
12.	evidence	L.	an action to prevent something bad from happening
13.	to confer	M.	the process of covering large area and affecting a larger number of people
14.	to  erode	N.	to appear
15.	to overtake	O.	close watch of someone or something
16.	temporarily	P.	spreading quickly from one person to another   people
17.	to implement	Q.	connected with cells
18.	precaution	R.	very bad or serious
19.	setback	S.	for a limited period of time
20.	cellular	T.	to develop more quickly than something else
21.	to emerge	U.	the process of passing something from one person to another

 

III Vocabulary focus. Follow the link below. Focus on the words and expressions (study definitions), match the terms to their definitions, solve the crossword puzzle, complete the quiz, chase down the correct answer to earn points, unscramble words and phrases (correct order of letters), type in words to fill in the blanks, test your knowledge of  vocabulary.

 

 IV Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

 

perfection; virus; infectious; mutations; variant; concession; dominant; variant of concern; cells; infection; antibodies; predominantly

 

The world is on edge as Omicron, the new 1) ______ of Covid-19, spreads around the world.

-        Britain, Germany, and Italy announced their first Omicron cases.

-        Countries are scrambling to contain transmission.

-        Researchers say it could be the most  2) ______ form of the virus so far.

What does the new strain mean for the global fight against Covid-19? Our experts answer your questions.

-        Why has it been designated as a 3) ___  ___ ___?

Omicron has been designated as a variant of concern because of the large number of 4) ______ to its spike protein. It has more mutations than any other variant that has been observed so far by genomic surveillance. And a large number of those mutations are on sites of the spike protein, which are known as the binding domain, which is the bit of the spike that binds to your 5) ______. And they're also the bit of the spike on which antibodies, the parts of your immune system which protect you from 6) ______, bind in order to prevent that from happening. So lots of mutations on sites where 7) ______ are being created is of concern.

 Between the mutations discovered on the 8) ______ itself and this epidemiological data there is there are reasons to believe that Omicron may indeed be a lot more contagious than Delta, which is the current variant 9) ______ around the world.

 

V Comprehension check. Mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1.  The world is on edge because scientists have just found the first case of Omicron, the new variant of Covid-19.  

2. Omicron has been called a variant of concern because of the large number of mutations to its spike protein.  

3. Delta variant had more mutations in its spike protein than Omicron.  

4. Coronavirus uses spike protein as the binding domain; the virus uses this part of its structure to bind to your cells.  

5. Proteins and fats are the parts of your immune system which protect you from infection.  

 6. Antibodies need the spike in order to prevent the infection; antibodies bind on the spike.  

 7. Epidemiological data can prove that Delta is far more contagious than Omicron.

8. Delta is the new Covid variant that will be dominant around the world.

 

 

VI Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

 

Is Omicron more endangered/dangerous/dangerously than the Delta variant?

We don't know yet whether Omicron causes more several releases/severe disease/all diseased than Delta or other variants. It's still too early/poorly/nearly to tell. However preliminary evidence suggests that this may not be the case. And that really hasn't been the case with previous variants. They usually are a lot more contaminate/contagious/outrageously but they're not deadlier.

But what we can be fairly confident about is that at least for the opponent/composed/component of your immune system that the antibodies run, that that one of the what's known as the humoral immune system, the variant is going to erode/exploded/around the immunity conferred by vaccines/waxed in/toxin to almost certainly a greater extent than any of the other variants that have emerged so far. That's thanks to all of those mutants/limitation/mutations on the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. But what we don't know is how far it's going to spread/led/read and how sick it's going to make people when it does or if it does. And all of that Dotf/data/dated is coming in over the next two weeks.

Will new vaccines be needed?

  The truth is that we don't know yet whether we are going to need new vaccines for Omicron. That depends on both how widely it spreads around the world and the degree to which it erodes immunity/mutiny/immobility either that built up through infection or vaccination. If the answer to both of those is a lot, then we may need to upsetting/update/outdates them. But the good news is that that's a quick process. It takes only a couple of workers/works/weeks to do the technical bits, and then a few more weeks for the safety checks and to spin up mass information/mass consumption/mass production.

 

VII Watch the video from the previous task and answer the questions.

1. Which Covid  variant is more dangerous?

2. Do the experts in the video discuss data showing that Omicron more severe disease than Delta or other variants?

3. What do preliminary findings suggest concerning Omicron and severe disease?

4. Which Covid  variant is more contagious?  

5. Which part of immune system does Omicron erode?   

6. Does Omicron erode the immunity conferred by vaccines or built up through infection?

7. Will people need new types of vaccines?

8. According to experts how long the development of new vaccines might take?

 

VIII Watch the video again and choose the correct option to complete the sentences. 

1.    Many   countries have banned travel from ___.

A.   south of Asia

B.   South Africa

C.   southern cities

 

2.    Also many countries have placed heavy restrictions such as __________ for people arriving from South Africa.

A.   quarantines at hotels

B.   two-step testing

C.   testing and isolation for 4 weeks

3.    Governments are taking measures to temporarily ____ any outbreaks that Omicron may cause.

A.   oversee

B.   reverse

C.   slow down

4.    The British government has implemented a ____.

A.   travel pass

B.   social gathering ban

C.   travel ban

5.    The British government has reintroduced rules about ____ in public spaces and on public transport.

A.   gloves wearing

B.   washing hands

C.   mask wearing

6.    In the UK the government has reintroduced guidance around ____.

A.   social climbing

B.   social distancing

C.   physical distancing

7.    Today scientists have a more complete understanding of the ____.

A.   immune system

B.   viral system

C.   healthcare system

8.    One segment of the immune system is antibodies, but there's a deeper section of the immune system known as the T cell or ___ immune system.

A.   cellar

B.   sailor

C.   cellular

9.    Cellular immune system is very _____ on a per person basis.

A.   strong and stable

B.   complex and fragile

C.   complicated and unique

10.It's much ___ for variants to escape people’s cellular immune system.

A.   simpler

B.   harder

C.   easier

11.Immunologists hope that even if Omicron erodes immunity at the antibody level of the system, that cellular immunity will ____.

A.   easier to recreate in laboratory

B.   easier to study

C.   protect people

 

 IX OVER TO YOU. Discuss the questions with other students

A)  What reasons do the scientists have to hope that the new Covid-19 variant will not be more dangerous than the previous virus strands? Look back at the videos to find at least four reasons for optimism.

B)   Think about the measures governments take to delay the spread of Omicron. Which measures have already been implemented in your country? Which measures in your opinion may be most effective to delay the spread of the new variant of Covid-19?