COVID-19: Scientists Confirm Omicron Variant In Europe Before South African Detection

Dutch health authorities announced on Tuesday that they found the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in cases dating back as long as 11 days, indicating that it was already spreading in western Europe before the first cases were identified in southern Africa.

The RIVM health institute said it found Omicron in samples dating from November 19 and 23.

Those findings predate the positive cases found among passengers who came from South Africa last Friday and were tested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.  

“It is not yet clear whether the people concerned [in the earlier cases] have also been to southern Africa,” the RIVM said, adding that the individuals had been informed of their Omicron infections and that local health services had started contact tracing.

“In the coming period, various studies will be conducted into the distribution of the Omicron variant in the Netherlands,” the institute said, noting that it would also re-examine more samples from previous COVID test results.

Belgium and Germany have also said that sample tests confirm the variant was in those countries before South African health officials alerted the world on November 24 to its existence.

South African scientists have been praised for first detecting the new variant and alerting global health authorities to it last week. But Omicron has now spread to about 20 other countries, and amid mounting concern that it could be significantly easier to pass from person to person, and that it could have at least some resistance to current treatments and vaccines, many nations have imposed travel restrictions on passengers from southern African nations.

South African politicians and scientists have said they feel as though they’re being punished for their advanced COVID-19 screening program, which caught the variant and enabled other nations to respond quickly to it but has resulted in the travel bans which largely target southern African nations.

It remained unclear on Tuesday whether the Omicron strain makes people more severely ill than the already well-known variants, but the World Health Organization has warned that the global risk it poses is “very high” based on early evidence.

CBS

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