Michael Le Page is a person.
There is a shop window in Tehran.
A picture of Morteza Nikoubazl/Nur Photo.
There is little doubt that the Christmas period will coincide with another wave of coronaviruses cases around the world, as it becomes clear that the omicron variant can largely evade prior immunity from infections or two vaccine doses, and might be even more transmissible than the delta variant. Cases have doubled every two days in England and Scotland. The big question is whether there will be as many deaths and hospitalisations as in previous waves.
The variant has spread much faster in South Africa than in other countries, with cases doubling every three to four days.
There was confusion as New Scientist went to press about whether case numbers in South Africa were slowing or still increasing. In the province, nearly as many cases have already been reported as during the country's delta wave earlier this year.
