Since last Friday morning the first alerts for the new variant of the coronavirus, called omicron and which the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified as “worrying” for now, Europe has experienced a drip of cases. In at least six EU countries, to which the United Kingdom joins, infections with the new mutation have been confirmed, which scientists are still studying to try to find out its dangerousness. The OMS explained on sunday that “it is not yet clear” if it is more contagious or if it causes more serious effects in patients. And this Monday he added that the risk posed globally is “very high.” The new variant has shaken the stock markets (the one in Japan registers losses again this Monday, while the European ones win) and has generated a cascade of announcements of border closures to travelers from southern Africa. Outside of Europe, infected have also been detected, for example, in Australia and Israel. The Government of the latter country has been the one that has gone further in the measures to try to prevent the omicron variant from entering its territory: on Sunday it decreed the veto of the entry of any foreign traveler from this Monday and for at least two weeks. Shortly after, the Moroccan Executive made the same decision and suspended the arrival of all international flights for 15 days. The G-7 health ministers are scheduled to meet this Monday in an extraordinary way to address this matter.
Many other states, such as the 27 members of the EU, have tightened controls and suspended flights from seven southern African countries: Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The WHO criticized this measure on Sunday and applauded the efforts made by the Government of South Africa, the country that detected the new variant and which officially communicated it to the international community on Thursday, a day before fear spread throughout the world. Spain also tightened access controls on Saturday for people from those seven African nations, which it included in the category of “high risk” countries. Sources from the Ministry of Health explain that they are in contact with the autonomous communities and that, for now, no case of contagion with the new mutation has been reported.
All the cases of people who have been detected the new variant in Europe are travelers from southern Africa or are related to them, so it is not known if it is already circulating on the continent or to what degree. The appearance of omicron comes at a time when alarms had already jumped in the EU due to the increase in cases, to which many States were responding with the tightening of sanitary measures, with mandatory vaccinations and with the recommendation from the Commission European of a third dose. This was the situation on Sunday in European countries in which infections of the new variant have been detected:
Portugal. The country has detected 13 cases of the new variant, all footballers or workers of the Belenenses, a soccer team of the Portuguese First Division that has its stadium in the Belem neighborhood of Lisbon. The South African footballer Cafu Phete, who belongs to the squad, returned to Portugal on November 22 after playing two games with the national team. All players and their close contacts must be quarantined.
On Saturday night Belenenses played the game they had planned against Benfica, another Lisbon club, which has generated a strong controversy in the country. By then, it was known that there was an outbreak in the team, but the presence of the new variant was unknown (the tests that have detected it were carried out on Sunday). Due to the high number of covid cases, the Belenenses jumped onto the pitch with nine troops. After the break, the match was suspended, as the team had only six outfield players.
Netherlands. The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new variant. Those affected are part of the group of 61 passengers with coronavirus – out of a total of 624 – who arrived on Friday from South Africa on two KLM flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town. The number may increase because laboratory tests have not been completed. All the infected travelers have been isolated, most in a hotel near the Amsterdam airport. A group of five positives were able to return home because they lived alone or traveled with all the people they live with. They should be quarantined, the same as the rest. In view of the situation, Hugo de Jonge, the Dutch Minister of Health, has said that he does not rule out the imposition of new restrictive measures.
Passengers traveling on the two flights in which the 61 infections were detected did not have to present a PCR with a negative result to enter the Netherlands if they were vaccinated with the regulations in force until Friday. Those who had not had the vaccine did need it. They had to do the test 48 hours before flying, or have a rapid antigen test carried out 24 hours before. On Friday, before the 61 infections from South Africa were known, the Dutch Government had already announced new restrictive measures to contain the advance of infections and hospital admissions. During the next three weeks, the hotel industry, the cultural sector and sports amateur It will only be open to the public between 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., among other measures. The authorities recommended working from home.
Germany. The country confirmed on Sunday a third case of the omicron variant after the result of the PCR sequencing of a passenger arrived on November 21 in Frankfurt on a flight from South Africa. On Saturday the Bavarian authorities confirmed the first two, in two travelers who landed in Munich on the 24th. The weekly incidence continues to rise in Germany with 447 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (Spain is at 98). The country has more than 800,000 active coronavirus infections, especially in the south and east of the country. The incidence in Saxony, the federal state with the worst vaccination rate (60% compared to 68% on average), is skyrocketing above 1,200.
Last week the psychological barrier of 100,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic was overcome. The health authorities have asked the Army for help to transfer critical patients from the most affected states, Bavaria and Saxony, to hospitals with free beds in the north of the country. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday joined the messages that politicians and scientists have been repeating for a few days: the population has to reduce contacts to avoid a new closure of public life. Steinmeier has published a column in the newspaper Bild, the most widely read in the country, in which it asks the more than 14 million adults who have not been vaccinated, to do so, and that the rest get the booster dose as soon as possible. This week there have been about 300 deaths a day. The authorities have tightened restrictions for the unvaccinated, who cannot access hotels, leisure, culture and sports indoors.
United Kingdom. UK Health Minister Sajid Javid assured the BBC on Sunday that there will be no total confinement to defend against the omicron variant, of which at least three cases have already been detected in England during the past week. In the case of two of the infected, they are people with a relationship between them, and a link has been established with a recent trip to South Africa. In the third of the cases, the Executive of Boris Johnson assured that the patient is no longer in the United Kingdom.
The British Executive has increased the restrictions, although without fully implementing the plan b that it claimed to have ready at the end of the summer. As of Tuesday, the use of masks in shops and public transport, although not in restaurants or pubs, will again be compulsory in England – it was already in Scotland and Wales. Travelers entering the UK, and not coming from a red list country (such as South Africa), will need to remain in isolation until the second day, when they will need to have a PCR. Until they confirm the negative result they will not be able to leave the quarantine. For the moment, the British government is reluctant to recommend teleworking or to require a covid certificate to access public places, as other European countries already do.
Belgium. Belgium was the first European country where the presence of the new variant was detected on Friday, but the latest measures by the Belgian authorities are not due so much to the omicron threat as to an attempt to contain in the country the fourth wave of infections since the start of the pandemic. The Belgian government’s strategy focuses on accelerating the administration of the booster dose. Health authorities agreed on Saturday to officially launch a new vaccination campaign to administer the supplemental dose to three million people over 18 years of age before the end of the year and to eight million in total by March 2022 (out of a total population of 11 millions).
The arrival of omicron surprises Belgium at the height of the rebound in the number of infections, which have gone from a daily average 7,800 at the end of October to more than 16,000 in mid-November. In response to the incipient fourth wave, on Friday it was agreed, among other things, the closure of hotels from 11:00 p.m., the closure of nightclubs and a limited capacity of 50 people for events or meetings.
Denmark. Danish health authorities confirmed on Sunday the infection with the new variant in two travelers from South Africa. The two people are in isolation and authorities have initiated close contact tracing. Denmark has also tightened controls on countries from southern Africa and the Government also recommends that all those who come to the country from that region to undergo a PCR and isolate themselves until they have a negative result six days after their entry.
Italy. Italy was a pioneer in the introduction of the vaccination certificate as a safe-conduct for almost all public activities, including those in the workplace. Even so, the government has further restricted the measures this week, forcing all those who received it nine months ago to have the third dose. The situation is still relatively stable in most regions, but the threat from the new omicron variant is already palpable. This weekend, a manager from the energy company Eni who was returning from Mozambique after stopping off in South Africa tested positive for the new mutation. Also five relatives, who are in quarantine and without symptoms.
Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has also detected the presence of omicron. As reported on Saturday by the Ceska televize chain, a hospital in the city of Liberec had detected a patient infected with this variant when carrying out a test on Saturday. The woman returned home last week from Namibia via South Africa and Dubai. The patient has mild symptoms of the disease and is confined with eight other people who came with her. Other European countries, such as Austria and Portugal, are also looking at suspected cases.
With information from Juan Carlos Sanz placeholder image (Jerusalem), Francisco Peregil (Rabat), Jose Naranjo (Dakar), Isabel Ferrer (Hague), Elena G. Sevillano (Berlin), Rafa de Miguel (London), Bernardo de Miguel (Brussels) and Daniel Verdu (Rome).
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