UK confirms first two cases of omicron variant | Economie

The new variant of the Covid omicron has arrived in Europe. After the case was discovered in Belgium on Friday, the United Kingdom confirmed, on Saturday, its first two positives of this new and dangerous variant, the British Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, reported from the social network Twitter.

They are two people in Essex county, near London, and another in the town of Nottingham, who had returned from a trip from South Africa and are now in quarantine, according to health authorities.

The minister indicated that the two cases are “connected” and that the two people are now being held with their relatives while further examinations are being carried out.

Javid announced that four more African countries will be included in the list of areas whose residents, from Sunday, will not be able to travel to the UK (unless they are British nationals, they must quarantine in a designated hotel).

On Friday, the government included South Africa – where the new variant was originally discovered – Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, which are now joined by Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.

“If someone has traveled to these four countries or to any other country on the red list in the past four days, they should self-isolate and undergo a PCR report,” the minister said.

The omicron variant, which prompted many countries to suspend flights to South Africa, worries the World Health Organization (WHO) because of the large number of mutations it causes, as about thirty mutations have already been detected in just two weeks, with confirmed cases
Not only in South Africa but also in neighboring Botswana and Hong Kong.