Omicron taking over in South Africa as U.S. reports first case

Three-quarters of S.African samples are now Omicron
U.S. reports first case, in traveller from S.Africa
U.S. orders airlines to hand over passenger data
EU says combating variant is a ‘race against time’
WHO warns against blanket travel bans over Omicron

The heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly becoming dominant in South Africa, less than four weeks after being detected there, authorities said on Wednesday, as other countries tightened their borders against the new threat.

The United States identified its first case of the new variant in a fully vaccinated traveller who had returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and had mild symptoms, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said.

Hours earlier, airlines in the United States had been told to hand over the names of passengers from parts of southern Africa hit by Omicron, which the World Health Organization (WHO) said had now reached at least 24 countries, with cases ranging from mild to severe.

Early indications suggesting that Omicron may be markedly more contagious than previous variants have rattled financial markets, fearful that new restrictions around the world could choke off a tentative recovery from the economic ravages of the pandemic.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said Omicron’s profile and early epidemiological data suggested it was able to evade some immunity, but that existing vaccines should still protect against severe disease and death.

It said 74% of all the virus genomes it had sequenced last month had been of the new variant, which was announced a week ago but was first found in a sample taken on Nov. 8 in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province.

The number of new cases reported in South Africa doubled from Tuesday to Wednesday.

WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove told a briefing that data on how contagious Omicron was should be available “within days”.

BioNTech’s CEO said the vaccine it makes in a partnership with Pfizer (PFE.N) was likely to offer strong protection against severe disease from Omicron.