Vietnam Records 1st Omicron Case

Vietnam reported the first Omicron case in the country for a man arriving from the UK, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

Nguyen Truong Son, the deputy minister of health, said that the patient arrived nine days ago, and he had been quarantined since his arrival in the Military Hospital after he tested positive for Coronavirus.

Later, the genetic sequencing of the passenger’s sample revealed that he carried the Omicron variant. The result of the analysis was revealed on December 20 and December 21.

The new strain was designated as a source of concern by the WHO because it has a high number of mutations (32), potentially making it more transmissible and deadly.

The WHO has given it the name "Omicron," which is the Greek alphabet’s 15th letter.

Following news of the new variant, the US, the EU, Canada, Israel, Australia, and other countries have imposed travel restrictions on many southern African countries due to health concerns.

The WHO said that the omicron COVID variant is likely to spread further and poses a “very high” global risk, warning that surges of COVID infections caused by the variant of concern could have “severe consequences” for some areas.

Omicron also could be somehow resistant to vaccines; therefore, several vaccine makers added booster shots to raise the efficiency of the vaccine’s antibodies, such as Pfizer, and Moderna.