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December 04, 2021 Cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus more than doubled to 150 in the United Kingdom after the discovery yesterday of another 75 infections in England, 16 in Scotland and the first in Wales: the government has announced, according to reports. Independent newspaper. So far, no cases have been registered in Northern Ireland. As for England alone, the new 75 cases are added to the previous 29, for a total (updated to yesterday) of 104.



The director of the National Health Safety Agency (UKHSA), Jenny Harries, specified that some new infections have been identified in people who have not traveled abroad, and this indicates - he commented - that in the country there is now "a small part of transmission (of the virus) in the community".



55% of cases in fully vaccinated people


Over 50% of cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in England have been detected in fully vaccinated people, the National Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) reports, reports the Daily Mail. According to the Agency, out of the total of 22 infections linked to the South African variate ascertained up to November 30, as many as 12 - equal to 55% - concerned patients who received at least two doses of the anti Covid vaccine. Among the other 10, six were unvaccinated, two were partially vaccinated while the remaining two were not known for their vaccination status.



Health authorities underline that in England the share of vaccinated is far higher than that of unvaccinated, therefore - they argue - the high percentage of infected registered among vaccinated people does not necessarily indicate that the Omicron variant is resistant to serum.



Over 3 million cases in South Africa


The infections from Covid-19 in South Africa have exceeded the record of three million while a new wave led by the Omicron variant is spreading in various areas of the country. The government today reported 16,055 new cases in 24 hours, bringing the total of infections detected in the laboratory to 3,004,203. "This increase represents a positive rate of 24.3 percent," the government-run National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in the daily update. Most of the new cases reported today, 72%, were detected in the province of Gauteng, the most populous of the country's provinces. Gauteng, which is home to the capital Pretoria and the country's economic and financial center, Johannesburg, is confirmed as theepicenter of the new variant since Omicron was first detected there last week. The sharp rise in infections is attributed to the highly contagious new strain Omicron, which was first reported by South African scientists on 25 November. However, the number of deaths still remains relatively low, with 25 Covid-19-related deaths reported today, bringing the death toll to 89,944 since the start of the pandemic.beginning of the pandemic.beginning of the pandemic.