Kuwait reported its first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Wednesday, changing into the most recent Gulf state to detect the possibly extra contagious pressure, state information company KUNA reported.
Citing a Well being Ministry spokesperson, KUNA reported the an infection was detected in a traveler arriving in Kuwait from an African nation. The traveler, who had acquired each vaccine doses, is now quarantined.
The ministry spokesperson, Abdullah al-Sanad, described the coronavirus state of affairs in Kuwait as “secure” however known as on residents and residents to get coronavirus vaccine boosters to gradual the unfold of the virus.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech mentioned preliminary testing indicated that three doses of their vaccine present efficient safety in opposition to Omicron, a extremely mutated model of coronavirus that South Africa first reported final month. The US drugmakers count on to have an Omicron-specific vaccine obtainable by March.
Researchers are scrambling to know how transmissible the variant is and whether or not it evades the safety provided by present vaccines. In an effort to purchase time, several Middle East states, together with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Egypt, have imposed new border controls and journey restrictions on southern African nations.
Final month, Kuwait suspended direct business flights from South Africa and eight different nations in Africa. Morocco has banned all incoming flights for a two-week interval, and Israel introduced a two-week ban on overseas nationals getting into the nation.
On Wednesday, the Kuwait Health Ministry reported 33 new circumstances and one coronavirus-related dying, bringing the full an infection rely to greater than 413,500. The nation has recorded 2,466 deaths from the virus since confirming its first circumstances in 2020.
