Srinagar, Nov 27: As the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated B.1.1529 as a ‘variant of concern’, countries around the world scrambled to tackle this new threat. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in Botswana, has prompted several countries to impose a travel ban on travellers from South Africa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday with top officials on the Covid-19 situation and vaccination status in India.
PM Modi was briefed on the new coronavirus variant, named ‘Omicron’ by the WHO. The implications of the new variant for India and its impact on other countries were discussed, as per an official release.
The Prime Minister spoke about the need to be proactive in light of the new variant. People need to be more cautious and take proper precautions like masking and social distancing, he said.
PM Modi also asked officials to review the plans to ease international travel restrictions. The Prime Minister highlighted the need to monitor and test international arrivals, with a specific focus on countries identified as ‘at risk’.
Meanwhile, two passengers who arrived in Bengaluru from South Africa tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. However, both the travellers were found to be infected with Delta variant of coronavirus, and not the new Omicron variant.
The new coronavirus variant has so far been detected in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong. Samples of B.1.1.529 variant have also been confirmed in Belgium and Israel.
On Saturday, two cases of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in Britain, UK’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid said.
Meanwhile, Germany on Saturday said it has discovered a new positive case resembling the Omicron variant.
- The first suspected case of the Omicron Covid variant in the Czech Republic is under investigation. The prime minister, Andrej Babiš, said the suspected infection was a woman who stayed in Namibia, and then flew home via South Africa and Dubai.
- In Germany, a minister in the state of Hesse said the Omicron variant, known officially as B.1.1.529, had probably arrived in a traveller returning from South Africa. The country’s top health officials have raised the prospect of a national lockdown amid rapidly rising cases and hospitalisations.
- Dozens of people who arrived in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday tested positive for Covid. Dutch authorities are scrambling to see if 61 passengers from South Africa who tested positive for Covid-19 have the new B.1.1.529 variant.
- There have been 77 fully confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in South Africa, four cases in Botswana and one in Hong Kong. Cases have also been reported in Israel and Belgium, although it is possible the variant has spread further.
- The Omicron variant is unlikely to “reboot” the pandemic in a population that has been widely vaccinated, according to Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group.
- South Africa has complained it is being “punished” for detecting the Omicron variant, as countries around the world rushed to impose travel bans from southern African countries.
- Travel bans from certain African countries have been introduced by the UK, US, EU, Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman and Thailand, among others.
- BioNTech, the company that developed the Pfizer jab, has said it could manufacture and distribute an updated version of its vaccine within 100 days if the new Covid variant is found to evade existing immunity.
