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Added on the 10/05/2021 17:59:24 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on the Covid-19 crisis, declares the recently-discovered B.1.1.529 strain of Covid-19 to be a variant of concern, renaming it Omicron. SOUNDBITE
India starts giving booster vaccine shots to health workers and the elderly as the country undergoes an infection surge driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the virus. IMAGES
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen says the world is in a "race against time" to understand the new Covid variant, calling for precautions to give scientists time to analyse the Omicron strain. She speaks during a visit to Latvia with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg IMAGES
Passengers walk in a terminal at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands after authorities test whether 61 passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving from South Africa have the new Omicron strain. IMAGES
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, says that travel to countries in southern Africa should be suspended immediately to slow the spread of the the new Covid-19 variant of concern. She also recommends the implementation of strict quarantine for travelers from affected countries and notes that the EU's contracts with the manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines requires the vaccines to be adapted to new variants 'immediately'. SOUNDBITE