It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Which, as tradition dictates, heralds the advent of a new Covid variant that threatens to slam the door on festive fun like a harassed innkeeper.

But lo! There may be a ray of light amid the omicron gloom: The Ghosts of Variants Past.

It is worth remembering that we have been here before, and while variants have undoubtedly caused problems, they have never created anything like the devastation forecast when they first emerged.

Take alpha. On December 14 last year, an ashen-faced Matt Hancock stood up in the House of Commons to inform MPs that a newly mutated coronavirus was spreading exponentially across Kent, London, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Alpha had actually emerged in September, but was only discovered following an investigation into why coronavirus cases in Kent continued to rise during the November lockdown.

By the time the authorities noticed there was a problem, the mutated strain was already out of stable, with more than 1,000 cases recorded across 60 local authorities.

Unable to bolt the door in time, Boris Johnson was forced to cancel Christmas for millions on December 21, with many areas placed in Tier Four restrictions.

We had the same issue with delta, which despite not being identified in Britain until April, had actually arrived by at least February.

Today we are in a much better position to track the virus and try to limit its impact. Just a handful of cases of omicron have so far been found and NHS Test and Trace is working to throw a ring around contacts to stop it from spreading.

Even if we do not manage to stop the spread of omicron, which many scientists think is unlikely, the previous variants give us hope that it will not be as deadly as feared, and vaccines will still work.