A German regional official said Saturday that health authorities have identified the first suspected case in the country of the new Covid-19 variant, in a person who returned from South Africa.
“The Omicron variant has with strong likelihood already arrived in Germany,” Kai Klose, social affairs minister in the western state of Hesse, tweeted, referring to the strain first detected in southern Africa.
Klose said that tests late Friday on the traveler who had returned to Germany from South Africa revealed “several mutations typical of Omicron”.
“As there is this strong suspicion, the person has been isolated at home. The full sequencing is still to be completed.”
Klose’s ministry said that the person had arrived in Germany, the EU’s most populous country, at Frankfurt international airport, the country’s busiest.
Andrej Babis, the prime minister of the neighboring Czech Republic, said Saturday a local lab was checking a sample from a woman who had been in Namibia and tested positive upon arrival.
“She flew back to the Czech Republic via South Africa and Dubai,” Babis said in a tweet.
“The woman is vaccinated, she has mild symptoms and we will have the result of the sequencing test tomorrow,” he added.
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