BEIJING, Nov. 29 — Omicron, a new COVID-19 variant, has been detected in a growing number of countries and regions worldwide, prompting governments to tighten their restrictions and impose new travel bans.
While the variant has sparked concerns among the public, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible, or causes more severe disease compared to other variants.
MORE OMICRON CASES DETECTED
Two people in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa have tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, according to the Ontario provincial government on Sunday. The two people had recently traveled to Nigeria.
“Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation,” said a statement issued by Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott and the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore on Sunday.
The French Health Ministry reported Sunday night eight suspected Omicron COVID-19 cases among passengers who had tested positive after their African trips over the past 14 days.
The eight positive COVID-19 cases “with a negative screening for the mutations found in the other variants (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta)” require further confirmation by sequencing, the French Health Ministry said in a press release, noting that it could take “several days.”
In Britain, the third case of the Omicron variant has been confirmed, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed Sunday.
The person tested positive after arriving in Britain, having been in South Africa, according to the UKHSA. The person is no longer in the country but the UKHSA is carrying out targeted testing at locations the person visited when the person was likely to have been infectious.
Another two cases of the new variant, detected on Saturday in Chelmsford and Nottingham, are “linked” and the two individuals are now self-isolating along with their households while further tests and contact tracing take place.
In Israel, a second case of the Omicron variant was discovered, the state-owned Kan TV news reported Sunday.
The patient is a vaccinated woman who had returned from South Africa, and was found positive in a genetic sequencing testing conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Health, Kan TV said.
The Home Front Command unit of the Israeli army has begun an epidemiological investigation to locate close contacts of the patient, while the health ministry is waiting for further results regarding additional returning travellers suspected of having contracted the new variant, it added.
On Friday, the ministry reported the first case of Omicron in Israel, which was discovered in a genomic sequencing test of a women who had returned from Malawi.
The new variant was first confirmed from a specimen collected in South Africa on Nov. 9, and first reported to the WHO on Wednesday, said the global health agency.
Other countries, including the Netherlands, Italy and Australia, have also detected cases of the variant.
COUNTRIES ON HIGH ALERT
To prevent a potential pandemic resurgence fuelled by the new variant, countries around the world have taken new preventive measures or tightened their existing restrictions.
France has decided, along with other European Union countries, to suspend flights from seven Southern African countries.
Meanwhile, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that mandatory mask-wearing should come into force from Tuesday.
People will be required to wear a face mask on public transport and in shops. But people will not need to wear them in pubs and restaurants.
The British government has previously added South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia to the country’s travel red list. – XINHUA
