RIYADH (AFP) – Saudi Arabia has recorded the Persian Gulf’s first confirmed case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in a citizen returning from North Africa, a health ministry official said Wednesday.
The strain, which was first announced by South Africa but has since been discovered to have been present earlier in Europe, has prompted governments around the globe to reimpose travel restrictions, despite warnings from the World Health Organization this could do more harm than good.
“One case of the Omicron variant has been detected in the kingdom -- it was a citizen coming from a North African country,” the ministry official told the state SPA news agency.
“He has been put in isolation, as have his contacts, and the necessary health measures have been taken.”
Saudi Arabia last week halted flights from seven southern African countries, mirroring similar moves by other government, but travel links with North Africa have remained unaffected.
The kingdom had been lifting some of the remaining restrictions it imposed early in the pandemic, allowing worshippers at the Muslim holy places to resume praying shoulder to shoulder from October.
Since the pandemic started, Saudi Arabia has recorded 549,000 cases of Covid-19, 8,836 of them fatal.
More than 47 million doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the kingdom, which has a population of nearly 35 million.
Meanwhile, an official at the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said on Wednesday seven countries in the region have not yet reached a threshold of 10% vaccination coverage.
These countries represent a high-risk setting for the emergence of further variants, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said at a news briefing in Cairo.
Low-income countries, mostly in Africa, have received only 0.6% of the world’s vaccines, while G20 countries have received more than 80%, Al-Mandhari said.
“The longer that these inequities persist, the greater the chance of more variants,” said Al-Mandhari. “Indeed, no one is safe until everyone is safe.”
So far, 24 countries may have reported cases of the new Omicron variant, said Abdinasir Abubakr, infection hazards prevention manager for the region.