At least 13 of the 61 travelers who arrived in the Netherlands with Covid have the omicron variant, potentially more transmissible than the previous ones.
According to the Dutch government, the number could be higher, but tests are still running.
The passengers were among about 600 who arrived in Amsterdam on Friday (26), on two flights from South Africa, one of the countries in which there are also confirmed cases of the new mutant.
It was in South African laboratories that the omicron was sequenced for the first time, which is not to say that the variant appeared there. The oldest samples in which it has appeared so far were collected in Botswana, also in the south of the African continent.
The warning of a new variant not only more transmissible but also with the potential to escape the immunity provided by current vaccines was given for the first time on Tuesday (23), by scientists specializing in genetics.
On Thursday (25), the government of South Africa made an official warning, triggering a wave of suspension of flights and new sequences around the world.
Until 10:00 am (Brazil time) this Sunday, there are already confirmed cases in at least 8 European countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Czech Republic.
According to scientists, sequencing of the omicron was already expected, since the variant must have spread before it was identified for the first time.
They say travel restrictions could at most delay the arrival of the omicron, and surveillance and prevention measures must be strengthened, pending evidence of the new variant’s impact — studies could still take a few weeks.
The case identified in Austria on Sunday is a patient from Tyrol, who also returned from South Africa last week. The country had already decreed a new confinement to fight a strong fourth wave of new cases of Covid, which has affected several European countries for more than a month.
In Denmark, two cases with omicron-compatible mutations have been reported, which are still awaiting completion of the sequencing tests. Both came from South Africa.
Countries have announced cases “with a high probability of being omicron” because this mutant behaves differently from others in one of the most commonly used PCR tests, indicating that it is highly likely to be the variant.
Confirmation, however, requires genetic sequencing, which shows whether the detected coronavirus has the same mutations at the same sites as the omicron.
The Danish Ministry of Health said countries that intensively monitor new strains will tend to find the new strain first. In European countries where omicron has already been confirmed, patients and their contacts are being isolated, even if they have already been fully vaccinated.
They have also asked everyone who has been to southern African countries in the last two weeks to take a new PCR test and self-isolate until they receive the result.
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