The Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid has reported this Monday of the first case of infection of the omicron variant of coronavirus in Spain, a traveler from South Africa who he is okay”, as confirmed by the Madrid hospital. In parallel, the Minister of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Josep Maria Argimon, has announced that they are studying “two possible cases” more, both also arrived from the African country at El Prat Airport (Barcelona).
According to the information released by the Madrid Ministry of Health, it is a 51-year-old male who returned from South Africa on November 28 with a stopover in Amsterdam. The General Directorate of Public Health has established an epidemiological surveillance procedure of possible close contacts that the infected person could have during the flight that landed in Madrid.
The positive was detected by a screening with antigen test at the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport and, for the moment, is with mild symptoms and in isolation saving quarantine.
The Microbiology Service of the hospital center has sequenced and confirmed this case in the early afternoon. “We have managed to set up a ultra-fast procedure that allows us to have the result on the same day, “he reported on Twitter.
It was confirmed today by sequencing. We have managed to set up an ultra-fast procedure that allows us to have the result in the same day. The patient is fine. #COVID19 #OmicronVariant
– Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Gregorio Marañón (@Mic_Inf_Maranon) November 29, 2021
Two possible cases in Catalonia
Minutes after this case was revealed, in Catalonia, the ‘Minister’ of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, announced at a press conference that “we have two people at the airport from South Africa via Germany who tested positive in the TAR and therefore the samples have been sent to the Bellvitge Hospital. “
Both people, as explained, will have to go through a screening and subsequent sequencing to identify whether they are infected by the Omnicron variant or not.
Before this first case was known in Spain, the Government had sent a message of tranquility to the population. “Spain is today a safe country”, spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez has said that she has, however, asked for precautionary measures to be taken. Along the same lines, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has repeated that the best weapon against the omicron variant is “anticipation, vaccination and prevention.”
Along these lines, the Official State Gazette (BOE) has published this Monday the new order imposing a ten-day quarantine on travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. This requirement is added to the tax this weekend according to which anyone who arrives from a high risk country You must provide a diagnostic test with a negative result, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or have passed the COVID.
The variant B.1.1.529, baptized as omicron, it was identified for the first time in South Africa on November 22 and since then it has reached at least 40 countries on various continents. In Europe, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) currently records 33 confirmed cases of the variant omicron in eight countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal). The European body has specified that all confirmed cases of this variant have a history of travel to African countries, and some of them have taken connecting flights in other destinations between Africa and Europe.
Passengers on flights from these seven countries bound for any airport located in Spain, must keep quarantine for 10 days after arrival, or throughout your stay in Spain if it is less than that period. All these cases, according to the European body, have a history of travel to African countries. Outside the EU, the European center report reports cases in seven foreign countries and territories: Australia, Botswana, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“Very high” risk
World Health Organization (WHO), which last Friday included the variant B.1.1.529 among the worrying variants (VOC, for its acronym in English), has warned this Monday in a report about this new strain of SARS-CoV-2 that the risk posed globally by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus is “very high.”
In fact, high mutations of the omicron variant have the potential to be more resistant to immunization and more contagious. “There may be new waves of covid-19 with serious consequences, depending on many factors, such as the place where these waves occur, “the same report has anticipated.
“Much information is missing”
The director of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), Cristóbal Belda, reported this Monday that the respiratory virus team of this organism has been working on the new variant since Friday. At the moment, this team already has the sequence of the strain and is studying whether or not it is more transmissible, as pointed out by some theories. “Much information is missing” on omicron, said the director of the ISCIII, who has influenced the evidence that vaccination must be global, given that “if we are not all protected, there will be none”.
Belda has made these considerations in Congress, in his appearance at the Research Commission that addresses the management of vaccines, just at the time when the Gregorio Marañón Hospital reported the first infected with the omicron variant in Spain. The director of the ISCIII has pointed out that, in the face of the new variants, what counts is “common sense, social distance, hand washing, a mask and prudence.” “With this and with an adequate vaccination we should have enough strength to, together, hold on,” he stressed.
Access controls in Barajas
From the Executive of the Community of Madrid, the Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, has reiterated this Monday on the need to establish access controls through the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, where a negative test at origin and the principle of reciprocity will be required before the appearance of the omicron variant.
Related news
“It is a good opportunity to establish those controls in a strict and serious way“, has defended the counselor, who has stressed that, as on previous occasions, it would be convenient” to carry out a control test at origin so that with this negativity it can travel since this is a global crisis “.
The Deputy Minister of Health Care and Public Health, Dr. Antonio Zapatero, has delved into this idea, who has indicated that “now a good control at the airport is absolutely mandatory, it would even be possible for any citizen who enters our country to have to do so with Negative PCR in 48/72 hours “, he stressed in statements to ‘Telemadrid’.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com