Sharjah24 – Reuters: Several leading German politicians called on Sunday for tighter restrictions to contain a surge in coronavirus cases as the infection rate hit a new high and fears about the new Omicron variant rose.
After the detection of two Omicron cases in the southern state of Bavaria on Saturday, an official in the western state of Hesse said a suspected case in a passenger arriving from South Africa had been confirmed.
"The sequencing has confirmed the result - the suspected case which was made public yesterday morning is the Omicron variant," Kai Klose, Hesse's Social Affairs Minister tweeted.
Restrictions on air travel from South Africa took effect on Sunday after it was classified as a virus-variant area.
This means airlines can fly only Germans to Germany from South Africa and even those who are vaccinated must spend 14 days in quarantine.
The new variant has caused alarm in Germany which, like many other European countries, is struggling to contain a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
It registered 44,401 new cases on Sunday, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, and the 7-day incidence hit a record 446.7 per 100,000 residents.
More than 100,000 people have died with the coronavirus in Germany since the start of the pandemic.
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