OREANDA-NEWS. The first patient with the «Omicron» strain has died. This was announced on Monday, December 13, by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Before that, there were no confirmed deaths from the strain in the world. The new strain of the coronavirus «Omicron» is spreading very quickly, every two or three days in the UK the number of infected with this variant of Covid-19 increases. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom Sajid Javid in an interview with Sky News.

«What we know now about this strain is that «Omicron» is spreading at a phenomenal rate, something we haven't seen before. [The number of cases] doubles every two to three days», he said. Now in the UK, according to him, there is a big wave of infections.

Javid also noted that about 40% of those infected with coronavirus in London probably account for the «Omicron». This strain of coronavirus is spreading all over the world. It has been recorded in at least 57 countries. In Russia, «Omicron» was confirmed in 16 Russians who returned from South Africa.