Second case of omicron variant detected in Spain

The regional health department of Madrid on Tuesday confirmed the second case detected so far in Spain of the new coronavirus variant known as omicron. The patient is a traveler from South Africa who flew to Madrid via a stopover in Amsterdam on Monday evening. According to the Madrid health department, the 61-year-old woman had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. After she tested positive for the virus via an antigen and PCR test at Madrid’s Barajas airport, the virus was sequenced. The health department said “she has minor symptoms and is self-isolating and is being monitored.”

The first case of the omicron variant was detected on Monday, also in a traveler from South Africa with a layover in Amsterdam, who arrived in the Spanish capital on November 28. The two passengers, however, arrived on different flights, according to a spokesperson from the Madrid health department. The variant was first found in a 51-year-old man who had been fully immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Like the second passenger, he also presented minor symptoms and is now under quarantine, while Madrid’s Public Health authority tracks all close contacts of the flight that arrived on Sunday, the same spokesperson confirmed.

In Catalonia, another two suspected cases of the omicron variant were detected in Barcelona’s El Prat airport, in two travelers from South Africa. The travelers were in self-isolation while authorities confirmed the results.

Spain tightened travel restrictions on Saturday due to concerns over the omicron variant. Before Saturday, travelers arriving in Spain’s airports were subject to a visual inspection and temperature checks, as well as an antigen test if they were suspected of carrying the coronavirus. Now, in addition to these measures, travelers coming from at-risk countries must also provide a negative Covid test, even if they are fully vaccinated. On Monday, the Spanish Health Ministry also introduced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for passengers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

In the last seven days, 249 imported cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Spain, according to the most recent data, which was released on Monday. This represents 0.46% of all infections detected in the same time period (54,010). Of Spain’s 17 regions, the Canary Islands have registered the highest number of imported infections in the past seven days, with 66 cases, or 3.15% of all contagions reported in the region in the last week. The archipelago is followed by the Valencia region with 42 cases (0.67%), Madrid with 35 (0.7%) and Andalusia with 18 (0.4%).

Since the beginning of the pandemic, just 0.03% of all coronavirus infections have been imported. In the Madrid region, of the 913,604 contagions detected so far, 2,864 were imported cases, or 0.3% of the total. In absolute numbers, it is exceeded by the Canary Islands, which has detected 3,065 imported cases (2.96% of the total), and Andalusia, with 3,825 (0.46%).

Due to the uncertainty over the mutations present in the omicron variant, health authorities across the world are closely monitoring the strain. It has not yet been confirmed whether omicron is more contagious, triggers more serious illness or is able to escape the protection offered by Covid-19 vaccines.

Rising infections and hospitalizations

In the meantime, coronavirus cases in Spain continue to rise. According to the latest Health Ministry report, released Tuesday evening, the 14-day incidence rate now stands at 208 cases per 100,000 inhabitants – a rise of 9.5 points since Monday. A total of 10,261 new infections were reported, while 44 Covid-19 deaths were added to the official toll, which now stands at 88,052. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 5,164,185 coronavirus cases have been detected.

Hospitalizations for Covid-19 also rose on Tuesday. There are currently 3,947 Covid-19 patients in hospital, up from 3,780 on Monday. This represents 3.1% of all available beds. In Spain’s intensive care units (ICUs), Covid-19 admissions jumped from 673 on Monday to 713, with the occupancy rate rising to 7.76%.

Navarre continues to have the highest incidence rate of the regions, with 588 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by the Basque Country, with 486 cases. Extremadura and the North African exclave city of Ceuta are the only territories in Spain where the incidence rate is below 100 (91 and 97 respectively).

Covid pass

The Spanish Health Ministry on Tuesday recommended limiting the number of people at “public and social gatherings,” particularly during the Christmas holidays. Meanwhile, a growing number of regional governments are resorting to the European Union’s Digital COVID Certificate, also known as the “Covid passport,” in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. This is despite the fact that both central and regional health technicians have questioned the effectiveness of this measure to curb contagion.

Eight regions already have the legal backing to introduce the Covid pass in bars, restaurants and night venues. In the Basque Country, the regional government has received the green light from the Spanish Supreme Court to use the certificate in restaurants with capacity for more than 50 diners, as well as nightclubs, party venues, karaoke bars and other night venues. Last week, the Basque High Court ruled against this measure on the grounds that it was “unjustified.” The regional government appealed and the Supreme Court ruled in its favor on Tuesday.

Following the verdict, Basque premier Iñigo Urkullu described the Covid pass as “another tool that is going to allow us to modulate the measures that we have and that we must put into place. Everything is going to be necessary to curb contagion and guarantee public health in these moments in which the pandemic is resurging.”

A rush to close borders

While the world is rushing to close borders in an effort to contain the spread of the new variant, many specialists are skeptical about the effectiveness of this measure. All the experts consulted by this newspaper said that with the available data so far, it is not possible to assert that the new strain causes more serious cases of Covid-19 or that it has the ability to bypass an individual’s antibodies, whether obtained from a vaccine or recovery from the disease.

“It could even be the case that this variant is more transmissible but that it causes a milder form of the disease, which wouldn’t be bad news,” noted Ignacio López-Goñi, a professor of microbiology at Navarre University in northern Spain.

“The borders have been closed before having data to justify it,” noted Fernando González Candelas, a genetics professors at Valencia University who does research for the Fisabio Foundation. “It’s all a bit rushed. With the mutations that have been detected, there are reasons to consider [omicron] a variant of interest. But whether it is a variant of concern is yet to be proven. Science is based on the analysis of data that allows for solid conclusions, and we don’t have that yet.”

But Santiago Moreno, head of infectious diseases at Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, does not share this opinion. “I don’t think we’ve rushed into this. It’s already outside countries in southern Africa. The risk is very high and it’s necessary to adopt measures as soon as possible to contain the spread. Although the data is very preliminary, it suggests that [omicron] is more infectious than the delta variant.” There are implications to that. “If the percentage of immunized population to come near protection grew to 80% with the delta variant, up from the initial estimate of 70%, with omicron it could be 90% or more.”