A regional minister said a suspected Omicron case had been found in Germany

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People stand in a queue outside a vaccination center as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Frankfurt, Germany, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Kai Fafenbach

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BERLIN (Reuters) – A minister in the western state of Hesse said on Saturday that an Omicron version of COVID-19 has likely reached Germany after mutations were detected in a passenger from South Africa.

“Last night, several typical Omicron-like spikes were found in a passenger returning from South Africa,” Social Affairs Minister Kai Klose said in Hesse, home to Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest hub and one of Europe’s busiest, on Twitter.

He added that the full sequencing of the variant had been carried out and that the person was in isolation, and urged anyone who had traveled from South Africa in the past few weeks to limit contacts and get tested.

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The new alternative has been found at a time when Germany and many other European countries are grappling with an increase in coronavirus cases.

Germany recorded 67,125 cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, and more than 100,000 people have died of Covid-19, the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases said.

A source told Reuters, Friday, that Germany declares South Africa a changing region for viruses, which means that airlines are allowed to fly only Germans to Germany from South Africa. Even those who have been vaccinated must spend 14 days in quarantine. Read more

Earlier, Dutch health officials said they had detected 61 cases of COVID-19 among people who traveled from South Africa on Friday and are trying to determine if any of them had the Omicron variant. Read more

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Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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