COVID: Germany confirms first two cases of omicron variant

Two cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in the southern state of Bavaria, the state health ministry said on Saturday.

Bavarian Health Minister  Klaus Holetschek (CSU) said the two infected individuals entered Germany at Munich airport on November 24.

The pair are now isolating, the ministry said.

Vaccine fears

The European Center for Disease Control has said the strain could reduce the effectiveness of available vaccines, as well as increase the risk of reinfection.

Earlier on Saturday, the state minister for social affairs and integration for the German region of Hesse, Kai Klose, said the variant had “very likely already arrived” in Germany.

The development in Bavaria now confirms this.

The discovery of omicron has sparked global concern, with a wave of travel bans imposed on southern African countries where an outbreak of the new variant was first discovered.

On Saturday, the United States joined the list of countries to react to the variant outbreak.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US State Department has advised against traveling to eight southern African countries.

The CDC raised its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana while the State
Department issued parallel “Do Not Travel” advisories.

UK and Italy also detect omicron

The UK has also discovered two cases of the variant among citizens who were connected to travel to southern Africa, while Italy has detected one omicron infection from a positive sample of a patient coming from Mozambique.

Fears are growing that omicron could stall a global recovery from the pandemic which has already lasted almost two years.

jsi/rc (dpa, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/covid-germany-confirms-first-two-cases-of-omicron-variant/a-59958183?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf