ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece has detected its first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, in a Greek citizen on the island of Crete who had returned from South Africa last month, its Health Minister Thanos Plevris told reporters on Thursday.
The man, who has mild syptoms, and all his contacts have been quarantined, the head of Greece’s public health agency EODY Theoklis Zaoutis said.
His contacts have tested negative so far and have been closely watched by Greek authorities, he added.
Increasing numbers of countries are reporting cases of the variant, which the World Health Organization has said carries a very high global risk of causing surges of infection.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Graff)
