Ómicron is already the dominant variant in Madrid and the Canary Islands

The omicron variant of covid-19 it is already the dominant in Madrid and the Canary Islands, assuming the 55.4% and 54.8% of infections in the week of December 13 to 19, respectively, according to the latest ‘Update of the epidemiological situation of the variants of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain ‘, published this Monday by the Ministry of Health.

The report also reveals that omicron represented 20.5% of the samples analyzed by Health in all Spain in that week. Specifically, it accounts for 35.21% of the Basque Country infections, 34% in Castilla-La Mancha, 28.8% in Extremadura, 28.4% in Navarra, 23% in the Valencian Community, 21% in Galicia, 20.3% in Cantabria and 20% in Catalonia. Andalusia closes the list, with 3.1%. Both in the Andalusian community and in Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Galicia, it continues to be the predominant the Delta variant, representing more than 75% of the sequencing.

From punctual travelers to fast transmission

“In Spain, the first cases associated with travelers from southern Africa to detect cases linked to community transmission and to verify a rapid growth in surveillance systems based on sequencing and specific PCR of random samples “, points out the Ministry.

Related news

Based on all this context, Health experts allege that omicron’s expansion is being “fast in many countries around the world“. “Community spread and rapid growth rate in several European countries. In Spain, rapid growth has also been detected in recent weeks, “the document summarizes.

In any case, Health points out that “data is still very scarce to determine the true impact of the omicron variant on the epidemiological characteristics of infection but preliminary studies point to higher transmissibility and greater immune escape “.” There is still a high level of uncertainty regarding possible changes in the severity of the cases “, they add.