The Secretary of Health of the United Kingdom, Sajid Javid, confirmed this Saturday that two people tested positive for the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the city of Chelmsford, in the southeast of England, and in the city of Nottingham.
The official claimed the cases were related to travel from southern Africa.
Javid said the two confirmed cases were isolated in their homes, pending contact tracing and specific tests.
He also assured that arrivals from Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia will have to be quarantined from Sunday and stressed the importance of booster doses.
"
It is a true reminder that this pandemic is far from over,
" he said.
"If we need to take more action, we will."
International passengers arrive at Heathrow Airport in London, England.
This Saturday authorities confirmed two cases of the new variant.Leon Neal / Getty Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and his top advisers, will hold a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Many countries have imposed restrictions on various African countries in recent days such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Thailand and the United States, in response to warnings about how contagious the new variant is, against advising of the World Health Organization.
Drug companies expressed optimism that their vaccines can be refined to treat the new variant, although that will take time.
The world on alert
Despite the flight ban, there is growing concern that the variant has already spread around the world.
In addition to the UK, cases have been reported in travelers in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.
Germany also said it had suspicions about a positive case and the Dutch authorities were determining whether 61 people who arrived on two flights from South Africa with COVID-19 had the omicron variant.
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Several flights arrived in the Netherlands from Johannesburg and Cape Town, shortly after the Dutch government imposed a ban on flights from southern African countries.
539 travelers who tested negative were allowed to return home or continue their travels to other countries.
According to government regulations, those who live in the Netherlands and return home must isolate themselves for at least five days.
A German official said
there is a "high probability" that the omicron variant has reached that country.
Kai Klose, the health minister for the state of Hesse, which includes Frankfurt, said in a tweet that "several typical omicron mutations" were detected Friday night in a traveler returning from South Africa, and he was isolated at home. .
In that person's case, the sequencing of the tests had not yet been completed.
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The World Health Organization classified omicron as a variant of concern due to its high number of mutations and some early evidence indicating its higher transmissibility compared to other variants.
That means people who got COVID-19 and recovered could get it again.
It could take weeks to determine if current vaccines are less effective against this version.
Scientists are unlikely to delve into their findings in the coming weeks, so governments around the world have started implementing security strategies because previous outbreaks of the pandemic were partly propagated by lax regulations.
Almost two years after the start of the pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people around the world, countries are on high alert.
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Frustration in South Africa
South Africa and its scientists received with helplessness and disgust the drastic reaction and the international isolation of the country after the detection of the omicron variant, although the government of the country debates whether it should take additional measures despite the still low rates of contagion.
"This latest round of travel bans is like punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and rapid ability to detect variants.
Excellent science should be applauded, not punished,"
the South African Foreign Ministry criticized in a statement on Saturday.
"We want to point out that the new variants were also detected in other countries. Those countries have no recent ties to South Africa. It is worth noting that the reaction with these countries is markedly different," lamented the authorities.
With information from AP and EFE
