Omicron is a reminder of our economic vulnerability over Covid-19

As long as we remain on the long road towards global immunisation, that uncertainty means financial markets and employers will be less able to make rational decisions, writes Phil Thornton

‘It is not only selfish not to share vaccines when many countries have a surplus, but it is very short-sighted’ (AP)

Since the omicron variant of Covid-19 was reported we have seen swings in financial markets, forecasts of economic turbulence and a return of political rows over restricting people’s behaviour to help curb its spread.

The emergence of the new variant is a reminder that employers, workers and households — as well as politicians — crave certainty. But if there is one lesson from the last 18 months it is that the coronavirus has taken us into a tunnel of uncertainty. Wednesday’s imposition of “Plan B” restrictions in the UK was another reminder of the ongoing volatility.

This has two implications that will become important over the coming weeks. The first is it is taking us a lot longer to understand the health, let alone the economic, implications of each new phase of the coronavirus. Everyone is understandably reaching out for facts they can rely on to justify their confidence that there is a light at the end of that tunnel — and specifically one that will allow Christmas as normal as possible in the northern hemisphere.