Covid: Contact tracers looking for visitors to KFC in Essex nine days ago after Omicron variant discovered in UK
Mike Egerton
Don't Miss
Most Read
Trending on GB News
Officials investigating one of the first cases of Omicron are searching for potential contacts as far back as nine days ago, raising questions over how long the new variant of coronavirus has been in the UK.
Essex County Council said targeted testing was being focused on customers, staff and delivery drivers at a KFC in Brentwood on November 19 and congregants at a church two days later.
On Saturday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced the detection of the first two cases of the variant first identified in South Africa after tests carried out overnight.
The Brentwood case is said to be linked to another infection in Nottingham involving travel to southern Africa but officials have not stated when the international travel took place.
Visitors to the KFC on Brentwood High Street between 1pm and 5pm on November 19 are being urged to take a PCR test immediately.
Members of the congregation who visited Trinity Church in Pilgrims Hatch on November 21 were issued with the same call by Essex County Council.
They are being urged to attend mobile testing units, for drive-through appointments only.
Essex County Council director of public health Dr Mike Gogarty said: “Thanks to the excellent work of our contact tracers we have been able to identify three settings which are the focus of our attention for testing.
“The aim is to understand what, if any, spread of the new variant within the local community may have occurred and limit the opportunity for any further spread. Robust contact tracing has taken place following identification of the single case.”
A third case of Omicron in the UK was announced by the the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Sunday.
The individual, who also had links to travel in southern Africa, visited Westminster in London before leaving the country.
They are understood not to have been involved in travel to Parliament or Whitehall, and are instead thought to have been to the wider borough.