MADRID (Reuters) – Spain has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in a 51-year-old man who arrived from South Africa on Sunday after a layover in Amsterdam, Madrid’s regional health authorities said on Monday.
The microbiology unit at Madrid’s Gregorio Maranon hospital, which sequenced and confirmed the new variant, added in a separate tweet that the patient was in fair condition with light symptoms.
The latest outbreak, first reported in southern Africa, has caused a global flurry of border restrictions and flight route suspensions over the weekend amid fears of a return to uncontrolled contagion.
The heavily mutated Omicron variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have “severe consequences” in some places, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
(Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette and Jesus Aguado, editing by Emma Pinedo)
