Cairo, December 11: The first case of the Omicron coronavirus strain was detected in Bahrain, the ministry of health said on Saturday. "A case of infection with the Omicron strain of COVID-19 was identified in a patient who arrived from abroad," the ministry said on Twitter. It was further reported that the infected person had no close contact with anyone once he had arrived in Bahrain. Lebanon's ministry of health had also confirmed the country's first two positive Omicron cases.

"Two positive cases [whose samples] were subjected to genetic sequencing, are indeed infected with the Omicron variant," the ministry confirmed earlier on Saturday.

The infected are isolating at home and showing only mild symptoms. Omicron was first detected in South Africa in late November. The strain was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization due to its high transmissibility. Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine May Aid Fight Against New Coronavirus Variant Omicron: Study.

Amid fears of growing COVID-19 infections, many countries imposed harsher travel restrictions on foreigners arriving from Africa. Despite that, the variant has started to pop up in dozens of states including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and many more.

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