Omicron man attended anime conference with 50,000 footfall; variant found in California, Colorado, Hawaii
Once a global epicentre of the pandemic, New York has the country’s biggest contact tracing effort. Pic/AFP
The arrival of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus in the US has health officials in some communities reviving contact tracing operations in an attempt to slow its spread as scientists study how contagious it is and whether it can thwart vaccines. In New York City, officials quickly reached out to a man who tested positive for the variant and had attended an anime conference at a Manhattan convention centre last month along with more than 50,000 people. Five other attendees have also been infected with the Coronavirus, though officials don’t yet know whether it was with the Omicron variant.
“As for what we learned about this conference at the Javits Center and these additional cases, our test and trace team is out there immediately working with each individual who was affected to figure out who else they came in contact with. That contact tracing is absolutely crucial,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Once a global epicentre of the pandemic, New York has the country’s biggest contact-tracing effort. The variant has been detected in a handful of other states so far, including California, Colorado and Hawaii.
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Contact tracers have been busy in Nebraska after six cases of Omicron were confirmed on Friday. One of the people had recently returned from a visit to Nigeria, and the other five were close contacts of that person. In Philadelphia, officials were working to track down contacts of a man in his 30s who is Pennsylvania’s first resident infected with the variant, the city’s Department of Public Health said. In Maryland, officials were rushing to trace, quarantine and test close contacts of three people from Baltimore who are the first known cases. Dr Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said “more and more” contact tracing efforts are expected in the coming days, because of the uncertainty about how effective vaccines and treatments like monoclonal antibodies will be against Omicron.
Israel confirms 7 cases of Omicron
Israel’s Health Ministry has confirmed seven cases of the new Omicron variant of the Coronavirus, stoking fears of a pending surge in infections. Four of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated individuals who returned from South Africa. Israel was one of the first countries to close its borders to non-Israeli citizens. Israel has reported 8,199 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Australia further tightens borders
The state government of South Australia (SA) has imposed further border restrictions amid concerns about the Omicron COVIDs-19 variant. Premier Steven Marshall on Saturday announced that SA’s borders will remain open to domestic travellers but those from the COVID-hit Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria must have a Coronavirus test on arrival and isolate until it comes back negative. They will also be required to have a second test on day six if they are still in SA, Xinhua news agency reported. “We remain extraordinarily concerned about the Omicron threat,” Marshall told reporters. “We don’t know enough about the Omicron variant at this stage, so we are being very cautious.” On Saturday, Australia reported over 1,700 new COVID cases and 10 deaths.
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