Has Omicron Spread Worldwide Already? 61 Passengers Out Of 600 Who Landed In Holland From South Africa Yesterday 'Have Covid', Germany And Australia Have Suspected Cases. UK Has Two Confirmed Cases. Belgian Case Had Never Been To Southern Africa

Cases of Omicron have already been picked up in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium. It is not yet known whether the variant arrived in the Netherlands yesterday but Dutch authorities are sequencing passengers' tests. There are also suspected individual cases being sequenced in Germany, the Czech Republic and Australia

Daily Mail: SIXTY-ONE passengers out of 600 who landed in Holland from South Africa yesterday had Covid: Germany, Australia and Czech Republic have suspected Omicron cases and Belgians report sufferer who had NEVER been to southern Africa

* Around 600 passengers arrived on two planes in Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, from Johannesburg yesterday

* Passengers have been put in quarantine hotels while authorities investigate whether they have been infected

* Countries across Europe closed their borders to countries in southern Africa yesterday to combat the variant

At least 61 new cases of Covid have entered the Netherlands from South Africa, the Dutch health ministry has revealed as fears mount over the spread of the new super mutant variant Omicron.

Around 600 passengers arrived on two planes in Schipol Airport, near Amsterdam, from Johannesburg — the epicentre for the new strain that experts fear is 40 per cent more vaccine evasive than Delta — hours after travel bans were put in place.

Europe's first case of the variant was spotted in Belgium yesterday — despite the unvaccinated woman who caught it having travelled to Turkey and Egypt, not southern Africa where the strain emerged.

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WNU Editor: My mouth dropped when I read this .... Dutch test for new variant after finding 61 COVID cases among South Africa passengers (Reuters).