The global economy could suffer a modest blow from the Omicron variant of Covid-19, though the scale of damage will hinge on the potency of the strain itself, economists say.
Tourism spending will likely weaken, and perhaps so too will restaurant spending and shopping at stores. But compared with the initial wave of Covid-19 in March 2020 and the Delta variant this summer, Omicron’s threat to economies will likely be less severe, economists say, in part because each new virus strain has had a diminished economic impact.