Category: South Africa
Netherlands: “Dozens” infected with Covid on flights from South Africa
Dutch health authorities said that dozens of people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday are likely infected with COVID-19, and they are conducting further testing to see if people are infected with the recently discovered Omicron coronavirus variant. More...
Israel: four potential Omicron cases flew in from Malawi, Jordan
The South African Omicron variant was first discovered in Israel late Thursday night, according to reports released Friday morning by the Health Ministry.
B.1.1.529 named “Omicron” and designated a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organisation
“Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron.” More...
Europe declares Omicron variant B.1.1.529 a Variant of Concern
The ECDC has declared the recently discovered Omicron variant B.1.1.529 as a Variant of Concern in its latest bulletin. More...
Omicron variant: first European case of B.1.1.529 found in Belgium via Egypt and Turkey
A woman with coronavirus symptoms after a trip to Egypt with a stopover in Turkey is the first confirmed case in Belgium of a patient infected with the new variant B.1.1.529, known as ‘Omicron’, initially located by the scientific community in the Southern African countries. More...
B.1.1.529 Omicron: Valve-style face mask may have caused cross-infection between vaccinated, quarantined patients
A Covid-19 patient whose valve-style face mask was blamed for a cross infection in a quarantine hotel last week has been found to be carrying a new variant of the virus with a high number of mutations, marking the first known appearance of the strain in Hong Kong. More...
South Africa: Omicron variant B.1.1.529 has outcompeted Delta in just two weeks
South Africa held a press conference today to give more information on the new SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529. More...
B.1.1.529 Omicron: Sars-Cov-2 variant with extremely high number of Spike mutations
“Currently only 4 sequences so would recommend monitoring for now. More...
Preprint: Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States
“At the country-level, there appears to be no discernable relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days. More...
New C.1.2 variant mutating 41 times a year, twice as fast other known Sars-CoV-2 variants
Scientists first detected C.1.2 in May 2021, finding that it was descended from C.1, which scientists found surprising as C.1 had last been detected in January. More...