Europe is frantically imposing travel bans, scrambling to ramp up its coronavirus sequencing abilities after several countries on the continent reported suspected cases of the newly identified Omicron variant.
As of Friday, the variant was found in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium, with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Friday there was a “high to very high” risk the new variant would spread in Europe.
By midday on Saturday, two cases were confirmed in the United Kingdom and dozens more suspected in the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic. The top infectious disease expert in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, also said it was possible the new variant was already in his country but was yet to be detected.
UK’s Secretary of State for Health Sajid Javid said the two cases detected in the UK were linked to travel to southern Africa, the region where the Omicron variant was first detected. “These individuals are self-isolating with their households while further testing and contact tracing is underway,” he added.