The Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Emergence in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

Authors

Kaiming Bi
Jose Luis Herrera-Diestra
Yuan Bai
Zhanwei Du
Lin Wang
Graham Gibson
Maureen Johnson-Leon
Spencer J Fox
Lauren Ancel Meyers

Publication Date

3-1-2023

Journal

Epidemics

Abstract

We estimated the probability of undetected emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in 25 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) prior to December 5, 2021. In nine countries, the risk exceeds 50 %; in Turkey, Pakistan and the Philippines, it exceeds 99 %. Risks are generally lower in the Americas than Europe or Asia.

Keywords

Humans, COVID-19, Developing Countries, SARS-CoV-2, Europe, Omicron, LMICs, Risk, Emergence, Covid Importation

DOI

10.1016/j.epidem.2022.100660

PMID

36527867

PMCID

PMC9727964

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-7-2022

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes