First Omicron case reported in Ireland, variant found in person back from southern Africa

The Health Department of Ireland announced on Wednesday that it has discovered the very first instance of the Omicron Coronavirus strain in the country. According to the department, the case is linked to an individual who had recently travelled back from one of the nations in Africa, which the Irish government has considered to be high-risk for spreading of the new variant. The department did not provide any other details, Xinhua reported. 

As per the Irish Times' website, the individual had returned to Ireland prior to the imposition of the restrictions and subsequently acquired symptoms that prompted a PCR test within the last week. The National Virus Reference Laboratory in Dublin had tested a number of specimens throughout the weekend, in which one out of the eight samples that completed genome sequencing was found to have the Omicron variation, according to RTE, Ireland's national radio and television network. 

Furthermore, experts are unaware of any more instances linked to the verified case, and no indication of community transmission of the variation has been found so far within the nation, the news agency reported. Last Friday, the Irish administration has designated Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are the seven nations as high-risk areas where the Omicron type was originally discovered, and restricted visa issuance against any non-essential travel to and from these areas. The Irish government has even informed that residents who are coming home from these countries will also be subjected to a stringent home quarantine, which will include two PCR tests.

Number of cases of the new COVID variant in other nations

Apart from Ireland, the new COVID-19 variants are found in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands with 14 cases, Portugal (13 cases), Australia (6 cases), Italy and Germany with 4 cases, Canada and Hong Kong with 3 instances, While Denmark and Israel comprise 2 and Austria, France, Japan, Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden have discovered one Omicron cases.

Meanwhile, amid the fear of the new COVID variant, the Irish Department of Health announced 3,793 new COVID-19 instances on Wednesday, increasing the total number of cases to 573,905. According to the government, there have been a total of 5,707 fatalities in Ireland linked to COVID-19, with 55 deaths recorded in the last seven days. Further, as per the Our World In Data website, till November 29, 76 per cent of the population in Ireland is fully vaccinated.

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