Omicron variant, South Africa sequences less than 1% of coronavirus samples

On Thursday, South Africa announced to the world that it had identified a new variant of Covid-19, later dubbed the ‘omicron variant’. The news has created chain reactions, also due to the fear that omicron is extremely contagious. Many countries, including Italy, have imposed bans on travel to and from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini.