Epidemiological update: Omicron variant of concern (VOC) – data as of 8 December 2021 (12.00)

Cases have been reported by 21 countries in the EU/EEA: Austria (15), Belgium (14), Croatia (3), Czechia (2), Denmark (83), Estonia (6), Finland (9), France (32), Germany (15), Greece (3), Iceland (12), Ireland (1), Italy (11), Latvia (2), Liechtenstein (1), the Netherlands (36), Norway (29), Portugal (37), Romania (2), Spain (11), and Sweden (13) according to information from public sources. Two new EU/EEA countries (Estonia and Liechtenstein) has reported the Omicron variant and a number of probable cases are currently under investigation in several countries.

The majority of confirmed cases have an epidemiological link to cases with a history of travel to African countries, with some of those having taken connecting flights at other locations between Africa and Europe.

Several EU/EEA countries with high rates of sequencing have detected the Omicron VOC in samples from cases without history of travel to African countries, indicating active secondary community transmission.

All cases for which there is available information on severity were either asymptomatic or mild. No deaths have been reported among these cases so far. These figures should be assessed with caution as the number of confirmed cases is too low to understand if the disease clinical spectrum of Omicron differs from that of previously detected variants.

Countries and territories outside of the EU/EEA have reported 1 121 confirmed cases. The 34 countries reporting confirmed cases are: Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Fiji, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. One new country outside of the EU/EEA (Uganda) reported new cases.

Overall, globally there have been 1 458 confirmed cases reported by 55 countries, based on epidemic intelligence data from public sources (Table 1).

Table 1. Confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 VOC Omicron reported by public sources as of 8 December 2021 (12:00)

*Denmark reported 83 cases as confirmed through whole genome sequencing and 315 as confirmed through a variant-specific PCR.

Probable case of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC infection

A person with a positive Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) or Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) for SARS-CoV-2 AND one of the following: S-gene target failure or another PCR-based Single Nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay indicative of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC or is a contact of a probable or confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC infection

Confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC infection

A person with confirmed sequencing result for the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC (please see reporting protocol for amino acid substitution profile)*