Une crisis meeting in London, at the head of the rotating G7 presidency. On Monday, November 29, the G7 health ministers are urgently expected in London, in the face of concern over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. A mutation that continues to spread across the world despite border closures. Health ministers from France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom meet to discuss the evolving situation on Omicron, during a emergency meeting.
The move comes as cases linked to the new strain have been detected across G7 countries, from Canada to Italy, including Britain and Germany. In France, the detection of the Omicron variant is “very likely a matter of hours,” Health Minister Olivier Véran said on Sunday. Eight possible cases have been detected but sequencing has yet to confirm the information.
Variant Omicron: “To date, there has not yet been an identification of this type of variant on the national territory but it is very probably a question of hours”, declares Olivier Véran, Minister of Health . pic.twitter.com/fhc85RGAlK
– franceinfo (@franceinfo) November 28, 2021
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An outbreak linked to the Delta variant
The new variant B.1.1.529 represents a “high to very high” risk for Europe, according to the European Union health agency. Even before its appearance, the continent was facing an epidemic outbreak linked to the Delta variant, with the reestablishment of health restrictions not always well accepted as in the Netherlands, the French Antilles or Switzerland.
The cases have in any case multiplied, especially in Europe. While the pandemic has already claimed more than five million lives worldwide since the end of 2019, the arrival of the Omicron variant has been deemed “worrying” by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the WHO pleads for maintaining open borders, while South Africa, where the new variant has been detected, and several other countries, have many borders closed.
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