Authorities around the world have reacted with alarm to the recently discovered coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 that the World Health Organization labelled a variant of concern and named omicron Friday.
Britain, the European Union and India are among those announcing stricter border controls as scientists carry out tests to determine if the variant is more transmissible or infectious than others, as well as if it is resistant to vaccines.
Where and when was the new variant found?
South African scientists doing genomic sequencing detected the new variant on Tuesday in samples from Nov. 14-16.
On Wednesday, South African scientists sequenced more genomes, informed the government that they were
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