Vietnam’s first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was confirmed on Tuesday, a health official said.
A person arriving in Hanoi from the U.K. has been confirmed as Vietnam’s first Covid-19 case with the Omicron variant.
According to Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son, the patient named K.V.H.M. arrived nine days earlier, after landing at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport on December 19 and tested positive for the coronavirus before being taken to the 108 Military Hospital.
Related: Vietnam has yet to detect any Omicron case
Genetic sequencing on December 20 and December 21 confirmed that the person is infected with the Omicron, or B.1.1.529 variant, the Health Ministry reported..
Omicron has been classified by the World Health Organisation as a “highly transmissible” variant — the same category that includes the predominant Delta variant.
Also read: Is Omicron variant the beginning of the end for Covid-19 pandemic?
More than 2,000 flights have been canceled globally today as more airline staff and crew are calling out sick as the Omicron variant spreads, according to a report on CNN.
Around 80 countries and territories have detected the variant, including many in the Asia-Pacific like Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
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Source: Vietnam Insider