The new corona variant omikron is being diagnosed in more and more countries. The last in line is Canada. Two people who recently traveled to Canada from Nigeria are carrying the coronavirus variant. The cases were found in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. Both have gone into isolation and Canadian authorities are conducting source and contact investigations.
In Europe, the omikron variant is already widespread. In addition to the Netherlands, cases have also been confirmed in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Denmark. There is also a suspected infection in both Austria and Switzerland, which most likely involves the omikron variant. Experts suspect that the variant has been around for much more than has now been confirmed.
How dangerous omikron is is by no means clear. US President Biden has been told by his top infectious disease adviser Anthony Fauci that there will be more clarity about the new variant in two weeks. Fauci said there is some evidence that omikron may spread rapidly, but also that vaccines are likely to provide some protection. What we already know about the virus and what we don’t yet, can be found in this article.
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