Concern as Omicron arrives in Lanarkshire
Concern has grown this week after it emerged that the majority of the Omicron Covid-19 variant cases were among Lanarkshire residents.
Five people in the local area have been confirmed to have been suffering from the South African variant, with nine cases in total identified in Scotland.
And on Tuesday, it was confirmed that all nine of those cases are linked to the one private event where the virus spread.
Nicola Sturgeon has said those infected are now self-isolating and none have needed hospital treatment so far.
It was also confirmed that none of the nine cases, the other four based in Glasgow and Clyde, have any recent travel history which would link the people to any of the countries on the red list.
However, the First Minister admitted the Omicron variant is the “most challenging development of the pandemic for quite some time”, and that “there is no doubt the emergence of this variant is a potential blow”.
The Omicron B variant was first identified in South Africa and while it seems to have mild effects it is causing concern as it is not yet known how it will affect people and if it will negate the effect of vaccines.
Dr Coetzee, the South African medic who first spotted the new strain, has said that patients with the variant display extreme tiredness, mild muscle aches, a scratchy throat and a dry cough as some of the symptoms.
And while it was first detected in Africa, there is no evidence to suggest it originated there.
Ms Sturgeon announced that the Omicron cases all linked to a single private event that took place on November 20, with more positive cases expected to be confirmed.
She said: “None of these individuals – as far as we know – has recent travel history to or known links with others who have travelled to the countries in southern Africa where the variant was originally detected.
“However, while the contact tracing exercise is still ongoing, health protection teams have established that all nine cases are linked.
“They all trace back to a single private event on November 20.
“Indeed, we fully expect that there will be more cases identified over the coming days that are also linked to this event.”
The Omicron variant is causing worry as the festive period approaches. However, as specific case numbers remain low, the concern comes from knowing little about the new variant.
Meanwhile, there are 2500 cases of the Delta variant still being identified in Scotland each day.
Latest figures show a total of 372 new Covid cases have been identified in Lanarkshire in the past week (167 in South and 205 in North), with one death confirmed.
Overall, the figures for people testing positive for Covid across the country is declining and the statistics of those being hospitalised over the last week is cause for encouragement.
Ms Sturgeon revealed that there were 706 people in hospital with 54 of them being in intensive care, with the reduction in numbers in older groups particularly encouraging.
Almost four million people in Scotland have now had both doses of a vaccine with Scotland, the most vaccinated part of the UK.