Maldives confirms four more cases of Omicron variant

Maldives has confirmed four more cases of the Omicron variant - a new and more contagious COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa last November.

Maldives had confirmed its first Omicron case in early December – a South African tourist who arrived in the country on November 21.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Health Protection Agency (HPA)’s epidemiologist Dr. Ibrahim Afzal said four more cases of the new variant had been detected in Maldives since.

He said that all four cases were tourists who had recent travel history to South Africa.

Afzal said that health authorities were conducting risk assessments, and discussing additional measures that can be taken.

“The new variant is highly transmissible from one person to other. And the latest information suggests it also vaccine immune escaping capacity. But it looks to have immune escape for the primary two vaccine doses. But the protection increases with the booster shot,” he said.

World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the Omicron, while milder, is more transmissible than other variants, and the effectiveness of vaccines against the variant is low.

However, the findings are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed — the gold standard in scientific research — but they line up with other early data about Omicron’s behavior, including that it seems to be more easily spread from person to person.