The Omicron variant of the coronavirus "
can spread faster than the Delta one
and is likely to become dominant in Europe."
The head of the WHO European office, Hans Kluge, writes on Twitter.
The Omicron variant cases registered in the last 24 hours in Europe are 441, for a total of 2,127 since the appearance of the new variant.
These are the data of the daily update of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control
.
The report indicates 17 cases in Austria, 73 in Belgium, 3 in Croatia, 3 in Cyprus, 9 in the Czech Republic, 268 in Denmark, 26 in Estonia, 20 in Finland, 130 in France, 101 in Germany, 5 in Greece, 2 in Hungary, 20 in Ireland, 27 in Italy, 5 in Latvia, 1 in Liechtenstein, 1 in Luxembourg, 62 in the Netherlands, 1,176 in Norway, 49 in Portugal, 8 in Romania, 3 in Slovakia, 49 in Spain and 51 in Sweden .
A preliminary analysis of the data shows that imported or travel-related cases now account for only 13% of the total
. The ECDC also confirms that "all cases in the EU / EEA for which information on severity is available were asymptomatic or mild. No deaths related to Omicron have been reported in the EU / EEA so far." The ECDC reminds that the cases included in the report are only those in which the Omicron variant has been confirmed by sequencing. They therefore reflect the genetic monitoring activity active in each country and not necessarily the actual diffusion of the variant. Emblematic is the case of Denmark, which carries out an intense genetic investigation on positive cases which for a few days has been aimed at identifying specific sequences of the Omicron variant: "Denmark reported 268 cases as confirmed through the sequencing of the entire genome and 3 .169 as confirmed nationally through a variant-specific PCR, "writes the ECDC.
Meanwhile, France is studying a strengthening of the protection measures at the borders with Great Britain to cope with the surge in the Omicron variant across the Channel.
The spokesman for the French government, Gabriel Attal, explained that for the moment there is a requirement for a negative test carried out less than 48 hours from departure in order to enter France from the United Kingdom but new measures are being studied that will be launched. in the next days.
