Omicron “incubated in an immunocompromized person for months or serially passaged in a lab”
Some interesting developments on the possible origins of the new Omicron variant, B.1.1.529…
The @nextstrain https://t.co/wVE7ubYBoy focal build for 21K (B.1.1.529) is now live.https://t.co/UD1WPcJphP
As previously, the long branch leading to 21K is clearly visible, making it hard with current sequences to tell much about the evolutionary history. https://t.co/dQSPFv2lwm pic.twitter.com/hoxllKKTho
— Dr Emma Hodcroft (@firefoxx66) November 26, 2021
Looks like the new strain was either incubated in an immunocompromized person for months or serially passaged in a lab in the presence of convalescent plasma — along the lines of what the Italians did a while back. https://t.co/h8AyMcVJBH
— Yuri Deigin (@ydeigin) November 27, 2021
https://nextstrain.org/groups/neherlab/ncov/21K