BRUSSELS (AP) — Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm.
The Netherlands’ RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from Nov. 19 and 23 were found to contain the variant. It was on Nov. 24 that South African authorities reported the existence of the highly mutated virus to the World Health Organization.
That indicates omicron had a bigger head start in the Netherlands than previously believed.
Together with the cases in Japan and Brazil, the finding illustrates the difficulty in containing the virus in an age of jet travel and economic globalization. And it left the world once again whipsawed between hopes of returning to normal and fears that the worst is yet to come.
The pandemic has shown repeatedly that the virus “travels quickly because of our globalized, interconnected world,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. Omicron demonstrates that until the vaccination drive reaches every country, “we’re going to be in this situation again and again.”

A worker lowers his mask as he sets up decorations ahead of year end festivities at a bar in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The World Health Organization warned Monday that the global risk from the omicron variant is "very high" based on the early evidence, saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with "severe consequences." (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ng Han Guan

A currency trader passes by screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Asian shares were mixed Tuesday as investors continued to cautiously weigh how much damage the new omicron coronavirus variant may unleash on the global economy. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ahn Young-joon

A person is tested for COVID-19 in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday Nov. 29, 2021. Countries around the world slammed their doors shut again to try to keep the new omicron variant at bay Monday, even as more cases of the mutant coronavirus emerged and scientists raced to figure out just how dangerous it might be. (AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Gbemiga Olamikan

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus poses with a friend for a selfie at Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris, Monday Nov. 29, 2021. The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scrambling to stop the spread. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rafael Yaghobzadeh

The arrival lobby of the international terminal is deserted at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Japan confirmed on Tuesday its first case of the new omicron coronavirus variant, a visitor who recently arrived from Namibia, an official said. Japan announced Monday it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors from around the world as a new coronavirus variant spreads (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Shinji Kita

A sign in the pedestrian zone indicates that masks are mandatory in Cologne, Germany Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. In North Rhine-Westphalia, protective measures are to be tightened this week in view of the intensified Corona situation. (Oliver Berg/dpa via AP)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Oliver Berg

People wear face mask to protect against the coronavirus at the public transport station Friedrichstrasse in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. According to local authorities wearing face masks mandatory in public transport and passengers need to be vaccinated, recovered or tested negative of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Markus Schreiber

A commuter looks out from a bus window, wearing a face mask to help combat the coronavirus in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The emergence of the new COVID-19 omicron variant and the world's attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Alastair Grant

A commuter in an underground tube station wears a face mask to curb the spread of COVID-19, now mandatory on public transport in Britain after the emergence of new Omicron variant, in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Victoria Jones

People walk past a mass inoculation center by Japan's Defense Force, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. On Tuesday, Japan's Self Defense Force closed down its mass inoculation center, which was launched in late May to help bolster the Japan's nationwide inoculation drive. About 77% of the Japanese have been fully vaccinated. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Koji Sasahara

A health worker checks the body temperature of travelers as a precaution against the coronavirus before allowing them to proceed at train station in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rafiq Maqbool

Pupils wearing masks study at the Kgololo Academy in Johannesburg's Alexandra township Tuesday Nov. 30, 2021. Despite the global worry, doctors in South Africa are reporting patients victim of COVID-19 omicron variant are suffering mostly mild symptoms so far. But they warn that it is early and most of the new cases are in people in their 20s and 30s, who generally do not get as sick from COVID-19 as older patients. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Jerome Delay

One of two Covid 19 patients is unloaded from a Dornier 328Jet ADAC aircraft by rescue workers at Hanover airport for transfer to hospital by intensive care transport in Langenhagen, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Seriously ill patients from intensive care units in Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony are being transported to areas in the north and west of Germany that are currently less severely affected as part of the "cloverleaf" mechanism coordinated between the federal and state governments throughout Germany. (Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa via AP)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Hauke-Christian Dittrich

A sign requiring people to wear face coverings to curb the spread of coronavirus, is displayed in Westminster underground station in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. With the emergence of the omicron variant the British government are requiring people to wear masks in shops and on public transport starting Tuesday. The omicron variant was already in the Netherlands when South Africa alerted the World Health Organization about it last week, Dutch health authorities said Tuesday, adding to fear and confusion over the new version of the coronavirus in a weary world hoping it had left the worst of the pandemic behind. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Matt Dunham

Bus passengers wait at a bus stop next to a Stay Safe sign which encourages social distancing and the wearing of masks to curb the spread of COVID-19, in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The emergence of the new COVID-19 omicron variant and the world's desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Alastair Grant

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a COVID-19 awareness sign at Lisbon's international airport, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Portugal is bringing back some tight pandemic restrictions, less than two months after scrapping most of them when the goal of vaccinating 86% of the population against COVID-19 was reached. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Armando Franca

A woman receives a coronavirus vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, Nov 29, 2021. Nigeria recently launched a mass rollout of COVID-19 vaccines as it aims to protect its population of more than 200 million amid an infection surge in a third wave of the pandemic. (AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Gbemiga Olamikan

Pedestrians, some wearing protective face masks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, walk in street market in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The emergence of the new omicron variant and the world's desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Francisco Seco

People cross the shopping street Friedrichstrasse in central Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. According to local authorities, except of shops for essential needs, only people which are vaccinated or recovered from coronavirus are allowed to enter shops. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Markus Schreiber

Residents wearing masks to protect against coronavirus gather during a cold windy day in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The World Health Organization warned Monday that the global risk from the omicron variant is "very high" based on the early evidence, saying the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with "severe consequences." (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ng Han Guan

Workers get ready for the opening of a new vaccination center in Lisbon, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The new center, the biggest in the country, will open Wednesday, Dec. 1. Portuguese health authorities on Monday identified 13 cases of the omicron coronavirus variant among members of a top soccer club and were investigating whether it was one of the first reported cases of local transmission of the virus outside of southern Africa. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Armando Franca

A woman wearing a face mask against coronavirus enters Saint Lazare train station in Paris, Tuesday Nov. 30, 2021. The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scrambling to stop the spread. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Lewis Joly

A woman wears a mask as she walks through pigeons in London, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. With the emergence of the omicron variant the British government are requiring people to wear masks in shops and on public transport starting Tuesday. The omicron variant was already in the Netherlands when South Africa alerted the World Health Organization about it last week, Dutch health authorities said Tuesday, adding to fear and confusion over the new version of the coronavirus in a weary world hoping it had left the worst of the pandemic behind. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Kirsty Wigglesworth

A man sitting on a bus wears a face mask to curb the spread of COVID-19, now mandatory on public transport in Britain after the emergence of new Omicron variant, in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Peter Byrne
PreviousNextBrazil, which has recorded a staggering total of more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths, reported finding the variant in two travelers returning from South Africa — the first known omicron cases in Latin America. The travelers were tested on Nov. 25, authorities said.
Japan announced its first case, too, on the same day the country put a ban on all foreign visitors into effect. The patient was identified as a Namibian diplomat who had recently arrived from his homeland.
France likewise recorded its first case, in the far-flung island territory of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Authorities said the patient was a man who had returned to Reunion from South Africa and Mozambique on Nov. 20.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.
But a WHO official said that given the growing number of omicron cases in South Africa and neighboring Botswana, parts of southern Africa could soon be witnessing a steep rise in infections.
“There is a possibility that really we’re going to be seeing a serious doubling or tripling of the cases as we move along or as the week unfolds,” said Dr. Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi, a WHO regional virologist.
Cases began to increase rapidly in mid-November in South Africa, which is now seeing nearly 3,000 confirmed new infections per day.
As of Tuesday, 44 cases of omicron were reported across 11 European Union nations, said the EU’s European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, adding that the majority involved a history of travel to Africa. Outside the EU and southern Africa, omicron infections have turned up in such places as Australia, Canada, Britain and Israel.
American disease trackers said omicron could already be in the United States and probably will be detected soon.
“I am expecting it any day now,” said Scott Becker of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “We expect it is here.”
While the variant was first identified by South African researchers, it is unclear where and when it originated, information that could help shed light on how fast it spreads.
The announcement from the Dutch on Tuesday could shape that timeline.
Previously, the Netherlands said it found the variant among passengers who came from South Africa on Friday, the same day the Dutch and other EU members began imposing flight bans and other restrictions on southern Africa. But the newly identified cases predate that.
NOS, the Netherlands’ public broadcaster, said that one of the two omicron samples came from a person who had been in southern Africa.
Belgium reported a case involving a traveler who returned to the country from Egypt on Nov. 11 but did not become sick with mild symptoms until Nov. 22.
Many health officials tried to calm fears, insisting that vaccines remain the best defense and that the world must redouble its efforts to get the shots to every part of the globe.
Emer Cooke, chief of the European Medicines Agency, said that the 27-nation EU is well prepared for the variant and that the vaccine could be adapted for use against omicron within three or four months if necessary.
England reacted to the emerging threat by making face coverings mandatory again on public transportation and in stores, banks and hair salons. And one month ahead of Christmas, the head of Britain’s Health Security Agency urged people not to socialize if they don’t need to.
After COVID-19 led to a one-year postponement of the Summer Games, Olympic organizers began to worry about the February Winter Games in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said omicron would “certainly bring some challenges in terms of prevention and control.”
World markets seesawed on every piece of medical news, whether worrisome or reassuring. Stocks fell on Wall Street over virus fears as well as concerns about the Federal Reserve’s continued efforts to shore up the markets.
Some analysts think a serious economic downturn will probably be averted because many people have been vaccinated. But they also think a return to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity, especially in tourism, has been dramatically delayed.
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AP journalists from around the world contributed.
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