The emergence of the Omicron variant has temporarily halted the seemingly inevitable return to the office, as scientists race to determine how dangerous the new variant may be, reported Bloomberg.
Despite not being fully aware of the dangers of the new variant, the Portuguese and UK governments have advised their populations to work from home once again due to the disease’s highly contagious nature.
Multiple US tech firms are postponing their scheduled return to the office, while in Asia, countries are taking tentative steps to reopen, but China is still embroiled in a game of catch-up in fighting infections.
The temporary and hybrid working arrangements that employees have adopted when COVID-19 first began in 2020 are slowly becoming a permanent solution, as the pandemic becomes more widespread with no end in sight due to the continual emergence of new variants.
Meanwhile, a number of multinational tech companies are delaying their ‘return to the office’ dates. Tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Uber, which previously expected most employees to return in early 2022, have removed their deadlines and have not set any new ones.
Uber competitor, Lyft, has allowed its employees to work remotely for the entirety of 2022. The US tech company attributed the decision to both the Omicron variant and a desire to provide employees with more flexibility.
It is not yet clear how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the office market, which had been enjoying a resurgence until the highly contagious Omicron variant was discovered in South Africa on November 24. Millions of people are already infected with the virus worldwide, despite having been fully vaccinated.
Amid the new variant’s emergence, the World health organization (WHO) have approved a new coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, from US Biotech firm, Novavax. The vaccine was authorized by the EU on Monday, making it the fifth vaccine to be authorized in the bloc after vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.
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