Covid tracers in Omicron case seek contacts from more than week ago | Coronavirus
Officials investigating one of the first cases in the UK of the Omicron coronavirus variant are searching for potential contacts as far back as nine days ago, raising questions over how long the new variant has been in the country.
Essex county council said targeted testing was focused on customers, staff and delivery drivers at a branch of the KFC fast food chain in Brentwood on 19 November and those who attended a church two days later.
On Saturday, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, announced the detection of the first two cases of the variant that was initially identified in South Africa.
The Brentwood case is said to be linked to the other infection in Nottingham, with that individual understood to have arrived from southern Africa before coming into contact with the person in Essex.
The Department of Health and Social Care has declined to say when the international travel took place.
Visitors to the KFC on Brentwood High Street between 1pm and 5pm on 19 November are being urged to take a PCR test immediately. Essex county council have issued the same call to members of the congregation who visited Trinity Church in Pilgrims Hatch on 21 November.
They are being urged to attend mobile testing units, for drive-through appointments only.
Essex county council’s director for public health, Dr Mike Gogarty, said: “Thanks to the excellent work of our contact tracers, we have been able to identify settings which are the focus of our attention for testing.
“The aim is to understand what, if any, spread of the new variant within the local community may have occurred and limit the opportunity for any further spread. Robust contact tracing has taken place following identification of the single case.”
On Sunday, the UK Health Security Agency announced a third case of the Omicron variant in the UK. The individual concerned, who is also believed to have travelled from southern Africa, visited Westminster in London before leaving the country. They are understood to have visited the wider borough rather than parliament or Whitehall.
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