The Omicron COVID-19 variant has rattled governments, markets and scientists around the world since its emergence in November. In the final weeks of 2021, Omicron leapfrogged Delta as the dominant virus strain worldwide. Early studies suggest Omicron, first detected in Botswana, is highly transmissible but less virulent. Infections have soared around the world, renewing disruption and forcing governments to impose new restrictions on a weary public.  However, there remains confidence from within the scientific community that we will continue to see, and overcome, future COVID-19 variants.

But markets are braced for a choppy few months ahead. Renewed constraints on health and social infrastructure may slow down early New Year infrastructure capital deployment. Nearly two years of the global pandemic has battle-tested the resilience of global infrastructure assets, with uneven effects on supply and demand mediated by industry and region. The current fifth COVID-19 wave has ren