Ireland has detected a case of the Omicron variant.
Dr Cillian De Gascun told a briefing held by NPHET that eight potential cases were sequenced, and one case of the much mutated Omicron was found.
The case was linked to travel to a southern African country.
The first case of the Omicron variant in Ireland has been confirmed
— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) December 1, 2021
Yesterday, Scotland's First Minister says the country's nine omicron cases are linked to the same event which happened almost a week before the WHO labelled the variant as one of concern.
The head of the European Commission says we know enough about the Omicron variant to be concerned.
🆕 Ireland detects one case of omicron.
- Review of positive cases since September 30th was undertaken.
- One of eight samples reviewed has been identified and is linked to travel with southern Africa.— Ben Finnegan (@_BenFinnegan) December 1, 2021
It will still take a number of weeks to understand the strain's effects on vaccines, it's transmissibility and severity of symptoms.
Around 10 samples from Ireland are being genomic sequenced, with four being identified from October - a number of weeks before it was labelled a variant of concern.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says member states need to be prepared for the variant:
"We do not know all about this variant, but we know enough to be concerned.
"And we know from our experience with the Delta variant it's a race against time.
"Therefore, until we know what's going on and this will take two-to-three weeks, we have to do everything possible to make the best of time we have, until we have certainty."
Speaking this afternoon, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said, "The NPHET Epidemiological Surveillance Team has been meeting regularly over the course of the last week to monitor the situation relating to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and, today, we are confirming that one case has been identified in Ireland.
“The Government has announced updated travel measures for all passengers travelling to Ireland from Scheduled States.
"In the first instance, the current advice remains that all non-essential travel to or from these states should be avoided.
"If you have travelled from any of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa or Zimbabwe to Ireland since 1 November you should isolate and present for PCR testing, regardless of symptom status.
"This can be booked for free on HSE.ie. If you are travelling to or from a Scheduled State for an essential purpose, you should continue to monitor www.gov.ie/travel for any further updates.
“The key focus for all of us must be to continue to supress the current wave of infection that is driven by the Delta variant of COVID-19.
"We know how to break the chains of transmission of this virus.
"The measures with which we are all so familiar have worked against previous variants of COVID-19, they can successfully suppress transmission of the Delta variant and we are optimistic that they will work against the Omicron variant.”
