Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it had detected its first case of the new omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. A citizen coming from an unnamed North African country brought the variant into the kingdom, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported. He and his close contacts were quarantined. Saudi Arabia is the second MENA region country to report a case of the omicron variant after Israel reported four cases. The omicron variant has been identified in 267 people across 23 countries and territories to date. It is not yet known how contagious or virulent the variant is, nor how effective existing vaccines will be against it.
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