There have been six cases of Omicron, a new form of the corona virus, in Scotland. (symbolic picture)
London:
Six cases of Omicron, a new form of coronavirus, have been reported in Scotland, taking the total number of cases in Britain to nine. Earlier, three cases of Omicron were reported in Britain. The Scottish government said four cases had been reported in Lanarkshire and two in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region. He said that in Britain, three infected with this new form had a history of traveling to South Africa before. However, in the cases reported in Scotland, the infected have no travel history and it is possible that they have been infected with the community. Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Sweeney said, “In some cases, we know there is no travel history involved. So this tells us that there has been some community transmission of this particular form of the virus.
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He, however, also said that it is too early to say whether there is a need for more stringent social distancing norms against this new pattern which has the potential to be highly contagious. He also said that its response to current vaccines is yet to be ascertained. Scotland’s Health Minister Hamza Youssef said, “It will be a worrying time for the six people found infected with the new form.” will do. This will help trace the origin of the virus as well as anyone else who may have come into contact with the infected in recent weeks. It was identified earlier in the week in South Africa and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Omicron a “concern”.
Omicron was first detected in South Africa and cases later surfaced in countries around the world, including Australia, Germany, Israel and Hong Kong. Britain has added ten countries in southern Africa to the UK’s travel ban “red list” and from Tuesday all foreign travelers arriving in the UK will be required to undergo a PCR test. India has also tightened its international travel norms as part of its response. India has placed the whole of Europe, including the UK, on the “at-risk” list. Additional screening and self-isolation are necessary at the airport as part of the action against the new format.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has planned to make masks mandatory in shops and public transport, which will be placed before Parliament this week. Meanwhile, Britain’s vaccine advisory body is considering expanding its booster dose plan for the anti-Covid-19 vaccine.
(Except for the headline, this news has not been edited by the NDTV team, it has been published directly from the Syndicate feed.)
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