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The U.S. confirmed its first case of the omicron variant Wednesday — a person in California who had been to South Africa — as scientists around the world raced to establish whether the new version of the coronavirus is more dangerous than previous ones.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert, made the announcement at the White House.
“We knew it was just a matter of time before the first case of omicron would be detected in the United States,” he said.
The infected person was identified as a traveller who had returned from South Africa on Nov. 22. The person, who was fully vaccinated but had not had a booster shot, tested positive on Monday and had mild symptoms that are improving, officials said.
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The World Health Organization says that every tool used to fight the delta coronavirus variant needs to be strengthened against omicron. (Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters) 2:17
The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday at least 23 countries have reported cases of the new variant, “and we expect that number to grow.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency “takes this development extremely seriously, and so should every country, but it should not surprise us. This is what viruses do, and it’s what this virus will continue to do as long as we allow it to continue spreading.”
Tedros, citing the early stages of global response to omicron, said efforts were ongoing to determine the severity of disease, transmissibility and the effectiveness of tests, treatments, and vaccines in the face of omicron. He said the delta variant remains by far the most common.
What’s happening across Canada
- Saskatchewan gives advice on gathering for the holidays safely.
- Ontario gave $210M in COVID-19 support to ineligible businesses: report.
- 8 travellers from omicron variant-barred countries in N.B., province says.
- N.L. registers 2 new cases; source of infections under investigation.
What’s happening around the world
As of Wednesday, more than 263 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to the case-tracking database maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.2 million.
In Africa, Nigeria is now requiring all federal government employees to be inoculated or present a negative COVID-19 test result done in the last 72 hours. With the vaccine mandate taking effect on Wednesday, there were chaotic scenes at several offices in the nation’s capital as civil servants without a vaccination card or a negative PCR test were turned away by security agents.
PHOTOS | Mandate takes effect for civil workers in Nigeria:
In the Americas, health officials on Wednesday confirmed Brazil’s third known case of the omicron variant as the government examined possible new measures to contain the virus, such as suspending some flights and requiring arriving passengers to show proof of vaccination.
In Europe, Slovakia’s government has proposed giving people 60 and older a 500-euro ($725 Cdn) bonus if they get vaccinated against COVID-19, the finance minister said Wednesday. So far, only 46.1 per cent of the nation’s 5.5 million people have been fully vaccinated.
In Asia, Lebanon has declared a nighttime curfew for the unvaccinated ahead and during the holiday seasons. Its health minister on Wednesday called it one of the measures to stem a recent rise in coronavirus infections and a precaution against the new variant.
