The United Arab Emirates and South Korea<\/a> \u2013 which is already battling a worsening outbreak and record daily infections \u2013 also confirmed cases of the Omicron variant.<\/p>\n Dr Michelle Groome of South Africa\u2019s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said there had been an \u201cexponential increase\u201d in infections over the past two weeks, from a weekly average of around 300 new cases per day to 1,000 last week, and most recently 3,500. On Wednesday, South Africa recorded 8,561 cases. A week earlier, the daily tally was 1,275.<\/p>\n \u201cThe degree of increase is worrying,\u201d Groome said.<\/p>\n The NICD said 74% of all the virus genomes it had sequenced last month had been of the new variant, which was first found in a sample taken on 8 November in Gauteng, South Africa\u2019s most populous province.<\/p>\n While key questions remain about how transmissible the Omicron variant is, which has been detected in at least two dozen countries around the world<\/a>, experts are rushing to determine the level of protection afforded by vaccines. World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove told a briefing that data on how contagious Omicron was should be available \u201cwithin days\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Nearly three-quarters of virus genomes sequenced last month were of new variant, say South African health officials<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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