A case of the new COVID-19 variant said to be heavily mutated has been confirmed in Belgium by one of the country’s leading virologists, according to a new report.
The case was confirmed as the novel B.1.1.529 variant — named Omicron by the World Health Organization — in a traveler who returned from Egypt, according to Marc Van Ranst, CNBC reported.
The traveler returned from Egypt on Nov. 11 and started showing symptoms on Nov. 22.
It is not yet known whether or not this variant of the novel coronavirus will be more deadly than others like the Delta and Alpha variants.
Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke spoke with Reuters, saying precisely that.
“It is a suspicious variant. We do not know if it is a very dangerous variant,” Vandenbroucke said, according to Reuters.
A small number of samples in South Africa were shown to have the new variant, according to the World Health Organization.
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Because of this, travel restrictions have been put in place in several European and Asian countries to try and stop the spread.
As of Friday morning, a small number of cases had been found in Israel and Hong Kong.
Italy’s health ministry banned travel from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, and Eswatini. The United States announced on Friday that they would also be restricting travel from South Africa after the naming of the variant by the WHO.
In addition, the Japanese government announced that it would enforce quarantines on several countries in southern Africa, Politico reported.
The variant, B.1.1.529, contains 30 mutations to the spike protein that allows the virus to enter a person’s body, scientist Tulio de Oliveira told CNBC. In total, the new strain has roughly 50 mutations compared to the Delta variant, which only has two.
Other countries to limit travel include Austria, which started its fourth lockdown on Monday, CNBC reported. Slovakia started a two-week lockdown on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Netherlands went into a partial lockdown on Saturday, stopping public gatherings at sporting events for the time being.
The new variant was assessed by the WHO’s technical working group on Friday, and the group settled on the name Omicron, meaning the variant is something to be cautious of.
