London:
The UK health secretary said on Monday there is now community transmission of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus in regions of England, but it is too early to say whether this will “turn us off our road to recovery”.
Sajid Javid defended the introduction of stricter rules to slow the spread of the virus, telling parliament the government was “leaving nothing to chance” as scientists assessed the variant, which was first reported in South Africa last month.
Javid said there are now 261 Omicron cases in England, 71 in Scotland and four in Wales – a total of 336.
“This includes cases unrelated to international travel, so we can conclude that there is now community transmission in multiple regions of England,” Javid said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that no further restrictions are currently needed to deal with the Omicron variant, but declined to rule out such measures being imposed before Christmas.
Britain has announced that all inbound travelers will be required to take a COVID-19 test before departure, while arrivals from Nigeria, South Africa and nine other African countries must be quarantined at hotels to slow the spread of the new variant.
The number of hotel rooms available for international quarantine will double this week, and the government is “executing this capacity as soon as possible,” Javid said.
Javid said the government cannot “say for sure” at this stage whether or not Omicron will escape COVID vaccines, or whether it will cause more serious illness.
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