Cuba, Bermuda confirm first cases of Omicron variant in the Caribbean
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Cuba is the second Caribbean territory to have confirmed its first case of the Omicron coronavirus (COVID-19) variant after Bermuda on Wednesday (December 8).
In its report, La Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) said the traveller is a health worker who resides in Pinar del Rio province. The health worker returned to the island on November 27 and tested positive for COVID-19 the following day, according to the ACN report.
Around 18 ‘potential contacts’ were identified by Cuban health officials since the traveller’s arrival in Cuba, however, all were asymptomatic and had tested negative for the virus, the report noted further.
Hours earlier, the Department of Health in Bermuda said in a statement on Tuesday that it officially detected the ‘variant of concern’.
“Genome sequencing was undertaken on the active cases, and while most of them are of the Delta variant, one case is the Omicron variant. The sequencing was done by MDL lab, and it indicated the presence of Omicron in one imported case that arrived over the weekend,” the ministry explained.
While acknowledging travel history, the ministry did not elaborate on the specificity of origin but assured that all close contacts of the traveller were quarantined and tested.
Cuba and Bermuda currently have relatively low COVID-19 infection rates after experiencing a deadly outbreak fuelled by the Delta variant. Both islands also have some of the region’s most successful vaccination campaigns.
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