New York Reports Five Omicron Cases
People waiting to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Marseille. The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected in mainland France on Thursday. Credit…Daniel Cole/Associated Press
The French authorities confirmed the first cases of the Omicron version of the coronavirus in mainland France on Thursday, but their alarm remained focused on a surge of infections fueled by the Delta variant.
France reported nearly 50,000 new cases of the virus in 24 hours on Wednesday, the highest daily total since the spring. The number of reported cases per 100,000 people has soared from less than 100 to more than 300 over the past month.
“We need to anticipate — there are still a lot of uncertainties,” Jean-François Delfraissy, the head of the French government’s Covid-19 scientific advisory council, told BFMTV on Thursday, referring to Omicron. “But let’s not fight the wrong fight. The real fight, the real…
