The Omicron variant has just been detected in 13 travelers from two flights from South Africa which landed in Amsterdam on Friday, the Netherlands announced on Sunday.
A total of 61 passengers had tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, according to the Dutch health authority, which has since analyzed the results in search of the new variant which recently appeared in South Africa.
Europe has declared several confirmed cases since Friday.
Belgium
opened the ball, thus announcing the first case on the Old Continent.
Italy
and the
Czech Republic
followed on
Saturday, each of these countries identifying a case of contamination.
Germany
has also announced two cases, like the
United Kingdom.
Across the Channel, these contaminations are linked and related to a trip to southern Africa.
One of them was detected in the city of Nottingham (central England) and the other in Chelmsford (east of London), said health authorities.
This announcement was immediately followed by the implementation of measures to stem the spread of the variant: from now on, all travelers will have to comply with a mandatory PCR test on arrival in the territory, accompanied by isolation while awaiting the result.
VIDEO.
Omicron variant: mandatory PCR test and isolation until results to enter UK
And in
France?
In view of the situation with our neighbors, Olivier Véran considers “probable” that the Omicron variant “is already circulating in our area”. "We can fear that this new variant is at least as contagious as Delta", he estimated this Sunday during a trip to Paris in a vaccination center, even if everything is not yet certain for the community scientist. “All the researchers are hard at work to see if this variant presents elements that should worry us. When in doubt, we act as if this variant was dangerous, ”said the Minister of Health.
Elsewhere in the world,
Australia
announced two positive cases on Saturday.
Omicron has also been identified in
Malawi
in
Israel
on a person coming from Malawi,
Botswana
and
Hong Kong
.
Many countries have closed their borders to several countries in southern Africa in hopes of stemming the spread of Omicron.
France is one of them, and announced this Sunday to extend this measure until midnight Tuesday.
Israel was radical, announcing that the territory was now off-limits to all foreign travelers.
Read alsoNew Omicron variant: closing borders, is it really effective?
These cascading border closures have been interpreted in South Africa as a “punishment”.
“This latest round of travel bans is to punish South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and its ability to detect new variants more quickly.
Scientific excellence must be applauded and not punished, ”the government regretted on Saturday in a statement.
