Omicron on the rise across Spain

Almost half the reported Covid cases in Spain are now testing as the highly contagious Omicron variant, with the proportion shooting up from 3.4% to 47.2% in just one week according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health.

The latest government report on the impact of Delta, one of the most dangerous SARS-CoV2 variants which was "predominant up until December 2021" concludes that it is "being replaced by Omicron".  Statistically, the Delta variant has gone from representing 92.4% of cases in the week from November 29th to December 5th, to 51.2% for the week from December 6th to 12th. Although it continues to be the predominant variant, there has been a clear drop in the number of cases of the variant originating in India.

In its report on the spread of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organisation (WHO) this week confirmed the existence of clear evidence that people vaccinated against Covid-19 and people who had previously had the disease could still contract the new variant.

The Omicron variant, which originated in South Africa, is "transmitted much more easily and evades more immune response" than the Delta variant and "is spreading very rapidly" in Europe and in Spain, says the report. Nevertheless, the report recognises that it is "too soon to determine the true impact" of this latest mutation. There is, it concludes, "a high degree of uncertainty with regard to possible changes in the severity of cases".

The Ministry of Health also warned that the current spread of the Omicron variant could be even higher than currently reported due to "the delay between obtaining and communicating the results".  In view of the explosion of cases over the past two weeks (Spain registered its worst weekend since January with over 79,000 cases), the Omicron variant could have spread even further by now.