Category: International

The new coronavirus variant — B.1.1.529 — is rapidly spreading in southern Africa.It prompted the European Commission to recommend a flight ban from the region.European Union member states have agreed to ban flights from southern African countries, citing the new coronavirus variant rapidly spreading there, Associated Press journalist Zeke Miller reported on Twitter. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had earlier on Friday recommended that the member states take action over concerns of the new variant. The World Health Organization has named it “Omicron” and classified it as a…

Britain, Germany and Italy detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic. Israel said it would ban the entry of all foreigners into the country and…

Dutch health authorities said on Sunday they had discovered at least 13 cases of the new Omicron strain among passengers on two flights from South Africa. The infections were found after 61 out of 600 travellers on the two KLM planes tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Friday. It was “not unthinkable”that there were further cases of the infectious Omicron variant in the Netherlands, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said. “The Omicron variant has so far been identified in 13 of the positive tests. The…

The British government on Saturday confirmed the existence of two cases of the Omicron variant in the country. UK had banned flights to South Africa after authorities revealed they had discovered the B.1.1.529 variant which reportedly has several mutations. According to UK health secretary Sajid Javid, the two people who were detected with the new virus variant have been self-isolating. The UK government said the two cases were linked to southern Africa as it moved to expand the travel ban to four more African countries namely Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and…

Brussels: Belgium said Friday it has detected the first announced case in Europe of the new Covid-19 variant, in an unvaccinated person returning from abroad. “We have a case that is now confirmed of this variant,” B.1.1.529, first detected in southern Africa, Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke told a media conference. The infected person tested positive on November 22 and had not had Covid-19 before, he added, without giving further details. A leading Belgian virologist, Marc Van Ranst, tweeted that the person had returned from Egypt on November 11. Vandebroucke said:…