It's the news we didn't want: There's a new variant of concern in town and it's got all sorts of mutations just where you don't want them.

It's also got a new fancy name: Omicron, and it's reportedly outpacing Delta in countries in southern Africa.

But is it really? Is it more infectious? Is it more virulent? Is it vaccine resistant, and if so by how much? How much do we really know at the moment? Should I panic?

Also on today's show:

* What if the Omicron variant is the sort epidemiologists expected to see earlier in the pandemic: highly transmissible and less virulent?