Geneva: The fast-spreading Omicron variant of the Coronavirus had on Tuesday been detected in a number of new countries, including in Japan, and prompted 2022 Winter Olympics host China to warn that the virus will pose challenges in holding the games.
The Omicron variant first detected in South Africa poses a "very high" global risk, the World Health Organization has warned, urging governments to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to prepare an action plan within the next week to fight the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus. Putin said it was important to maintain supplies of drugs, oxygen and hospital beds.
"It is necessary to constantly monitor the effectiveness of tests and vaccines, to use clear algorithms to reduce the spread of infection," he said.
Russia has not yet reported any cases of Omicron, but suffered its deadliest month for COVID-19 in October, forcing it to impose a week-long nationwide workplace shutdown at the start of November.
Britain on Tuesday made the wearing of face masks in shops and on public transport compulsory again in a bid to curb the spread of the new Omicron Coronavirus variant.
Some retailers, however, have said that even though they support the measure, they won't enforce it on their customers, fearing abuse on their staff.
"What I won't be doing is asking my store colleagues to police those who refuse to adhere to the rules. They're already working under significant pressure, especially as we hit the busiest trading month of the year," Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland supermarket chain told BBC radio.
The head of the European Union's public health agency has announced that 42 Omicron variant cases have been confirmed in ten EU countries.
Andrea Ammon, who chairs the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC), told an online conference that authorities in the EU were analysing another six "probable" cases, noting that confirmed cases were mild or without symptoms.
The new fast-spreading Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands a week earlier than previously thought – prior to the November 26 flights from South Africa initially blamed for bringing the mutated Coronavirus into the country, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said Tuesday.
"We have found the Omicron Coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on November 19 and November 23," it said. "It is not clear yet whether these people have visited southern Africa."
At least 14 people on two flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town arrived in the Netherlands on Nov. 26 carried the new variant, the RIVM said.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it could approve vaccines adapted to target the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus within three to four months if needed, but that existing shots will continue to provide protection.
The European Union's health commissioner Stella Kyriakides has urged member states to boost efforts to detect Coronavirus mutations in a letter sent out to health ministers.
"Certain Member States lag behind considerably in terms of this crucial dimension," she wrote.
The Omicron variant, which was first found in southern Africa, has now been identified in several European countries, but it is hard to track its spread as various countries do not carry out sufficient genome sequencing of positive samples.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Stephane Bancel, the head of US vaccine manufacturer Moderna said that data will be available on the effectiveness of current vaccines in the next two weeks but that scientists are not optimistic.
"All the scientists I've talked to ... are like 'this is not going to be good'," he said, adding there will be be a "material drop" in the effectiveness of current jabs against Omicron.
Japan has confirmed its first case of the Omicron Coronavirus variant, a day after authorities announced new Covid border restrictions.
The case was flagged during routine testing at an airport, where a man in his 30s, who had travelled to Japan from Namibia, tested positive to COVID-19.