The next variant "Three key questions about what’s after Omicron"

 After the Omicron variant brought a fresh wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections and anxiety at the start of 2022, some nations are starting to record a decline in case numbers. 

But after two years of oscillating between pandemic surges and retreats, even people in these countries cannot help but wonder when the next blow will come — and what form it will take.

“I think it is inevitable that we will see new variants with varying degrees of immune evasion,” says Andrew Rambaut, who studies viral evolution at the University of Edinburgh, UK. “They could emerge from wherever there is widespread transmission.”

As they wait for the next variant to enter the scene, scientists are studying the currently dominant Omicron variant to better predict the future; this research is described in a separate Feature. Here are three key questions scientists would like that research to answer.