Portugal detected 13 cases of the omicron variant; Scotland confirms the highest 6 infected people | Globalism

Also on Monday, Scotland reported its first six cases of the new strain and Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said some of those infected were not linked to travel to South Africa – raising fears that omicron It is already spreading locally.

“This suggests that there may actually be community transmission of this alternative,” Sturgeon said.

In Portugal, the Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health reports this One of the injured is a player who recently traveled to South Africa, where the new variant was discovered. Since others have not visited the country, they may also be cases of local transmission.

Those who had contact with infected people in Portugal have been forced to self-isolate, regardless of their vaccination status, and will be tested regularly. The institute reported that it is against Covid-19.

A club spokesman said on Monday that 44 people are isolated in their homes and that “two or three players and two or three staff are showing symptoms, but nothing too serious.” Others are asymptomatic.

With six confirmed cases in Scotland, the UK now has nine infected, but he said not all six cases had recent travel histories or known connections to others who had traveled to South Africa.

a Omicron (B 1.1.529) It has already been detected in at least 14 countries and regions So far and Many countries have already restricted flights due to the new strain.

The variant is worrisome because it contains 50 mutations – something that has never been seen before – with more than 30 in the “spike” protein (the “key” the virus uses to enter cells and is the target of most Covid-19 vaccines).

World Health Organization (Who is the) announced the omicron as a ‘worry variable’, placing the strain in the same group of versions of the coronavirus that have already affected the epidemic: alpha, beta, gamma and delta.

But it remains to be seen if it is more transmissible or more lethal, and The World Health Organization itself says it will take weeks to better understand the behavior of the variable.

The outbreak of the virus in Belenenses caused an unusual spectacle in the Portuguese championship on Saturday (28): The team was able to select only 9 players against Benfica, including 2 goalkeepers – And 1 of them played on the line.

Benfica scored 7-0 in the first half, and the match ended at the start of the second stage because Belenses had only 6 athletes on the field.

The Benfica and Belenenses presidents said they had no choice but to play the match, where they could be punished for “unexplained absences”, and blamed the league and the country’s health authority for not allowing the match to be postponed.

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