Omicron Covid variant circulating for longer — and more widely — than first thought, experts say
Read moreThe U.S., U.K. and EU, among others, responded to news of the variant last week by temporarily suspending flights from southern African countries, or introducing strict quarantines on anyone arriving from the region.
On Tuesday, Germany also reported an omicron case in a man in Liepzig who had not been abroad, nor had contact with anyone who had been. "When we detect a variant or virus … usually we're going to detect it weeks after it started its evolution. The only thing we are sure about, when a country detects a virus, is that that country's surveillance system is good. That's what happened in southern Africa, so this discourages the travel ban even more because ... it is like a measure against a good surveillance system.
"The origin of Omicron is still unknown, including the location where it first spread," Moritz Kraemer, lead researcher on the Oxford Martin Programme on Pandemic Genomics at Oxford University, told CNBC Thursday.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
First Omicron Covid-19 Case Confirmed in U.S., CDC SaysThe CDC has confirmed a person in California has contracted the Omicron Covid-19 variant, but reportedly only suffered mild symptoms and is improving.
Read more »
Berlin Film Festival Weighing Delay After Omicron COVID Variant Scrambles Plans (EXCLUSIVE)The Berlin Film Festival is forging ahead with plans for an in-person celebration this February, though the new Omicron COVID-19 variant is forcing conversations about contingency plans, multiple i…
Read more »
Do Current COVID-19 Tests Still Detect Omicron?Here’s how the current COVID-19 tests, whether they’re done by a lab or at-home, work against the latest variant
Read more »
First confirmed US case of the omicron variant detected in California: COVID-19 updatesThe California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health confirmed that a recent case of COVID-19 found on an individual in the city was caused by omicron. The person was a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and was fully vaccinated.
Read more »
S.Korea hits new COVID-19 record, halts quarantine exemptions to block OmicronSouth Korea's daily coronavirus case numbers rose to a new high on Thursday, as authorities halted quarantine exemptions for fully vaccinated inbound travellers for two weeks in a bid to fend off the Omicron variant.
Read more »
This interactive map shows where the Covid omicron variant has been detectedFrom the U.S. to Germany and Saudi Arabia to Australia, the omicron Covid-19 variant has spread to dozens of countries globally.
Read more »