During the Christmas weekend, the Panamanian authorities reported six new cases of the omicron variant of covid-19. The Ministry of Health of the neighboring country to Colombia reported that five of these were reported in people who were traveling abroad.
“Those infected with this variant have travel background to South Africa, Colombia, Spain, United States, Puerto Rico. There is only one without a history of traveling abroad, ”explained the governing body of health policy.
Since Monday, December 20, Panama confirmed the first case. In total, it has detected 9 infections with this mutation, while another 17 are suspicious and are under genomic analysis.
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Of the total of confirmed cases with the omicron variant, seven are men and two women who reside in the province of Coclé, San Miguelito and Panama Metro (metropolitan area), and all they have the complete schedule of the vaccine against covid-19, said the Panamanian Health Ministry.
Since Monday, the Colombian Ministry of Health reported that the National Institute of Health (INS) detected three cases of the omicron variant in Colombia. Minister Fernando Ruiz Gómez indicated that all cases identified correspond to travelers, of which two came from the United States and one from Spain.
Specifically, two of these cases were known in Cartagena and one in Santa Marta; two of the patients are Colombian and one is a US citizen. The three cases and their contacts are being exhaustively analyzed by the INS “and to the extent that there is information we will be expanding it,” explained Ruiz Gómez.
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“This situation is consistent with what we have been announcing for several weeks regarding the imminent arrival of the variant to Colombia, which is already circulating in more than 80 countries and so far no community circulation has been identified in our country, ”the minister pointed out.
The omicron variant has caused an increase in infections around the world and has caused some European countries, such as Germany, Portugal and Finland, to re-impose restrictions on the leisure and hospitality sectors.
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