Omicron Variant Was First Discovered In The Netherlands – Health Authorities

• The first Omicron cases in the Netherlands were previously believed to have been the cluster of 14 among passengers on two flights from South Africa…

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Dutch health authorities said on Tuesday that the Omicron variant was present in the Netherlands earlier than previously thought, and before South Africa had first reported the new strain of Covid-19.

The variant was found in two test samples from November 19 and 23, with one having no travel history, suggesting that the variant was already circulating in the Netherlands, the RIVM public health institute said.

The first Omicron cases in the Netherlands were previously believed to have been the cluster of 14 among passengers on two flights from South Africa that arrived in Amsterdam on Friday.

Read also: Omicron: FG To Issue New Protocol For International Travel

The Netherlands now joins other European countries including Belgium and Germany that have reported cases of the new strain before it was officially notified by South Africa to the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 24.

“We found two additional cases of Omicron variant which have been sampled on the 19th and 23rd of November,” RIVM infectious diseases chief Aura Timen told AFP.

“So that points at the presence already of this variant in the Netherlands.”

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