The first confirmed death from the Omicron coronavirus variant was announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Monday afternoon.
“Sadly, at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron,” Johnson told reporters.
Britain is the first government in the world to confirm that a citizen had died from the Omicron variant. British health officials have warned that the Omicron variant is spreading extremely rapidly in the UK.
“It's spreading at a phenomenal rate, something that we've never seen before, it's doubling every two to three days in infections,” British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in an interview with Sky News.
The first cases of Omicron were first detected in Britain on November 27th, yet just over two weeks later, the new variant now accounts for some 40% of reported in infections in London.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett caused a stir when he falsely claimed that two British schoolboys had died from the Omicron variant.
"The Omicron variant also attacks children. We see this in other countries and are also seeing this in Israel. Just this week two middle school classmates in England died from Omicron. One was not vaccinated at all, and the second, it seems, was only partially vaccinated. We are also seeing children being struck in Israel." Bennett said.
The Prime Minister's Office stated afterwards: "The Prime Minister referred to the deaths of two British schoolchildren who fell ill with Corona and died shortly afterwards. The Prime Minister was referring to Corona and not to Omicron, a variant that is still in its infancy. Corona is a virus that endangers human lives and their health, including young people. The Prime Minister is concerned about the risk posed by the coronavirus, its symptoms and its long-term consequences to the health of Israeli children, and calls on all parents to vaccinate their children as soon as possible."
Health officials say the Omicron variant is more contagious than previous variants and can overcome the immunity of previous infection and two shots of the coronavirus vaccine. However, it appears to cause less severe illness and three shots of the vaccine remain effective against it.