After Belgium, UK reports two Omicron variant cases
Passengers walk through the International arrivals area of Terminal 5 in London's Heathrow Airport
The British government on Saturday confirmed the existence of two cases of the Omicron variantin the country.
UK had banned flights to South Africaafter authorities revealed they had discovered the B.1.1.529 variant which reportedly has several mutations.
Also Read:Passengers arriving from South Africa at Amsterdam airport test positive for COVID-19
According to UK health secretary Sajid Javid, the two people who were detected with the new virus variant have been self-isolating.
The UK government said the two cases were linked to southern Africa as it moved to expand the travel ban to four more African countries namely Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi who were placed on the "red list".
The British government had already placed six southern African nations on a travel ban on Friday including Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) had moved to designateB.1.1.529 as a "variantof concern" late on Friday.
Watch:EU, US restrict travel from South Africa
The UK has been witnessing a steady rise in coronavirus cases over the past months even as it has vaccinated over 80 per cent of its citizens.
Also Read |Omicron: What does variant of concern mean?
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had spoken to President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier after Britain decided to block flight from the country as Belgium became the first country in Europe to report the new Omicron variant.
Also Read:Omicron-typical mutations were found in a traveller, says German minister
South African minister Phaahla had called the flight ban a "knee-jerk and panic" reaction. After Britain, other European countries including Austria, Italy, France and the Netherlands also imposed flight bans.
TheOmicron variant was also discovered in Israel, Hong Kong and Botswana on Friday.
(With inputs from Agencies)