Norway Covid experts : Europe’s biggest omicron Disease outbreak

Europe’s biggest omicron outbreak ‘appears mild’, say Norway Covid experts

Two employees of solar power company who attended a party after which 120 guests tested positive had returned from South Africa.

Norway Covid omicron Outbreak at an Oslo Christmas party

The omicron outbreak at an Oslo Christmas party seen as “the biggest in the world outside South Africa” is so far only causing mild disease, with Norway‘s state epidemiologist expressing hope that it might mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

The biggest hotspot of omicrons in Europe: “This is the beginning of the end”

What we know so far about Europe’s biggest Omicron outbreak?

Christmas party linked to dozens of cases of the new Covid-19 variant in Norwegian capital

At a Christmas party in Oslo, the largest epidemic of a new variant of coronavirus in Europe broke out, it is the largest omicron epidemic outside South Africa.

But instead of panicking, Norwegian epidemiologists point out that this is a potential indication of the end of the epidemic.

The infection broke out in the restaurant and night club “Louise” on November 26 – about 120 people who were there that night were infected with the coronavirus, of which about half were infected with omicron.

“Their symptoms are fever, cough, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, but so far none of them have developed severe form of COVID-19, nor have any of them ended up in hospital,” Oslo infectologist Tina Ravlo told the British Daily Telegraph.

The infection happened at the Scatec event, which reserved a space in the “Louise” restaurant for November 26, the same day when the WHO named a new strain of coronavirus and marked it as a “worrying variant”. There were 120 employees in the company at the dinner, and most of the evening they were isolated in their room. It was only around 11:30 p.m. that they started mixing with other guests in the nightclub in the same building, which was closed at 3 a.m.

The next day, two Scatec workers, who had recently returned from South Africa, were positive. After a few days, a total of 70 employees who were at the dinner were positively tested, plus another 50 guests from the nightclub.

Norwegian epidemiologist Frode Forland believes that the number of infected suggests that omicron is significantly more contagious than the delta strain of coronavirus.

“We can’t be sure, but data from Oslo suggests that,” says Forland. But the company insisted that all dinner participants be fully vaccinated and tested with an antigen test.

“They followed all the rules,” epidemiologists note.

Omicron variant may make Christmas party infection risk much higher

A series of extraordinary superspreader events at festive celebrations across Europe suggests the omicron coronavirus variant dramatically increases the risk of being infected at social events.

Should you go to that festive party this year if you want to avoid being infected by the coronavirus?

Probably not. In addition to the risk posed by the high levels of the delta variant in many countries, the omicron variant is now spreading too – and it appears capable of infecting an astonishingly high proportion of people at social events.

There are already at least four reports of superspreader events at parties across Europe where a third or more of the people attending have been infected.

Omicron hasn’t yet been confirmed in all cases but is likely to blame.

“The very high proportion of people infected at these events, taken together with the very rapid increase in cases in South Africa, point to a variant with possibly considerably stronger abilities to infect,” says epidemiologist Gunhild Alvik Nyborg of the Covid Action Group, an international thinktank on eliminating covid.

One of the events was a party at a restaurant in Oslo, Norway.

Around 70 of the 120 people who attended the party were infected, as were another 50 people at the restaurant. Omicron has been confirmed by sequencing in 13 cases so far.

In Denmark, 53 of 150 people who went to a Christmas lunch in Viborg have been confirmed to be infected with omicron.

In Spain, 68 medics at the University Regional Hospital in Malaga have tested positive after going to a Christmas party at which 173 people were present altogether. It isn’t yet clear if any of the 68 have omicron.

Boris Johnson denies staff gatherings took place or rules were broken during last year’s lockdown

Downing Street is facing renewed pressure after TV footage emerged showing senior No 10 officials joking about a Christmas party during lockdown last December.

In the leaked video, obtained by ITV, an adviser to Johnson is seen joking with Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s then press secretary, about “a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night”.

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170 hospital staff went to a Christmas party. Then 68 tested positive for COVID-19

Spain’s prime minister on Monday urged people to “remain prudent” about COVID-19 over the holidays, as Christmas festivities at one Spanish hospital are suspected of infecting dozens of staff.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that Spaniards can’t “let their guard down” because the coronavirus continues to spread, despite fewer cases and fewer difficulties for the health service than this time last year.

The regional hospital of Malaga, a city on Spain’s southern coast, said 170 staff attended a Christmas dinner in a restaurant last weekend. Since then, 68 staff, including intensive care nurses and doctors, have tested positive for COVID-19.

The staff took antigen tests before the event and were negative, which is making authorities question whether the dinner gathering was the cause of the outbreak, Spanish private news agency Europa Press reported.

What is the purpose of Christmas party?

Christmas parties allow your team to get social in a less formal setting, with less strict expectations than office socialising and encourages better communication and a more friendly environment.