Omicron variant in southern Africa has caused global alarm, with countries limiting travel from the region and imposing other restrictions for fear it could spread quickly even in vaccinated populations.
Amoako and the team at the NICD spent the Nov. 20-21 weekend testing the eight samples which Viana sent them, all of which had the same mutations, he told Reuters on Tuesday.
It was so bizarre that Amoako, his colleague Josie Everatt and other colleagues also thought it must be a mistake. Then they remembered that over the week, they'd noticed a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, of the sort that might indicate a new mutant.