Iceland’s First Case of Omicron Variant Confirmed

Iceland’s first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was confirmed last night. The person infected is a patient at Landspítali National University Hospital, mbl.is reports. That was confirmed by Már Kristjánsson, head of Landspítali’s infectious disease division.

It is not known how the patient became infected, but it is clear that he did not contract the virus abroad.

The patient was admitted to the hospital due to illness caused by the coronavirus, and after he was admitted, sequence analysis revealed that he was infected with the Omicron variant of the virus.

Már states that the patient’s symptoms are typical.

It is not clear how well vaccines against COVID-19 work against the Omicron variant. It was first detected in South Africa, although it may not have originated there. The South African doctor who first identified it has stated that it appears to cause milder symptoms than do other variants of the coronavirus.

According to npr.org , cases of Omicron have been confirmed in 24 countries. The World Health Organization has declared it a variant of concern . The concern is that it may be more contagious than other variants of the virus.

UPDATE at 10:16 am: The patient infected with the Omicron variant is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and has even received a booster shot of the vaccine, mbl.is reports.