Virus mutant in Europe: Omicron found in older samples

Enlarge image

Travelers from South Africa during tests at Amsterdam Airport

Photo: Remko De Waal / picture alliance / dpa / ANP

The new virus variant Omikron has apparently been spreading in Europe since mid-November.

In the Netherlands, health experts discovered the Covid-19 mutation in samples taken on November 19 and 23, the authorities said.

The new variant was only discovered later in South Africa.

It is not yet clear whether the people had previously visited southern Africa, according to the experts.

So far, the focus has been on the passengers on the last two flights from South Africa, including dozens of infected people last Friday.

The authorities now want to test around 5000 people who most recently came from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe.

In the Netherlands, tightened Covid-19 measures came into force on Sunday to curb the record number of more than 20,000 infections per day and to relieve hospitals.

In Germany and Belgium, too, initial samples indicate that Omikron was already in circulation before doctors in South Africa identified it as a new variant.

Omikron has been found in at least 20 countries, including Japan and France.

There are concerns that the new mutation could be even more contagious than the delta variant.

Confirmation in Düsseldorf: "Yes, it is Omikron"

In Germany, an Omikron case has been confirmed in Düsseldorf.

It is about a person who entered from South Africa on November 21 and had contact there with a case that has now tested positive.

The city announced on Tuesday evening.

The person who had entered the country had himself tested on November 25 because of symptoms - the result was positive.

The investigation for virus variants showed abnormalities that spoke against a delta variant.

"A follow-up test was carried out on November 27th and brought straight to the university clinic for sequencing," it said.

The sequencing was not successful because of the low viral load.

Therefore, another test was carried out on November 29th.

"In this smear, the viral load was large enough to unequivocally detect the Omikron variant with sequencing," said a city spokeswoman when asked by the dpa news agency.

The virologists at the university clinic had transmitted: "Yes, it's Omikron."

“Even if we have little specific information so far, the situation is actually worrying.

Both the molecular changes in the virus and the patterns with which Omikron seems to have spread in recent weeks are cause for concern, "said bioinformatician Richard Neher from the University of Basel to SPIEGEL.

At the same time, there is still the possibility that the new variant will not establish itself in Europe: "We have actually seen many variants that have remarkable constellations of proteins and mutations and that were not so successful after all," says Neher.

fww / rtr