Omicron variant: KFC, church and school in Essex linked to Covid case
Video report by ITV News Anglia’s Raveena Ghattaura
Officials tracing the Omicron variant in Essex say a KFC fast-food restaurant, a church and a primary school are linked to the cases which have been identified.
Pupils and staff at the school in Brentwood are being tested for coronavirus and one class has switched to remote learning to prevent further spread.
It came as the county's director of public health said there was "every possibility" that the variant of the virus had begun to spread in the community.
Targeted testing was already being focused on customers, staff and delivery drivers at a KFC in Brentwood on November 19 and congregants at a church two days later.
Anyone who visited the KFC outlet on the high street between 1pm and 5pm on November 19, or the Trinity Church in Pilgrim’s Hatch on November 21, must now get tested, the council said. Possible contact at the school occurred on November 22.
On Monday, it was confirmed that Larchwood Primary School in Pilgrims Hatch had also been linked to the Omicron cases.
Infected person 'well and isolating with family'
A joint statement from the council and school said: "Following further contact tracing of the known Omicron Covid-19 case in Brentwood, it has been confirmed that there is a link to Larchwood Primary School based in Pilgrims Hatch.
"The UK Health and Security Agency, Department of Health and Social Care, Larchwood Primary School and colleagues from Essex County Council and Brentwood Council have worked together to take necessary precautionary action to prevent the spread.
"This includes making specialist testing available for all pupils and school staff and confirming arrangements for remote learning for one class. "We appreciate that this is an unsettling time for parents, pupils and the school community but we take the time to remind everyone that this is a precautionary measure."
Essex's director of public health Dr Mike Gogarty said on Monday a person infected with the Omicron variant in Essex was "well" and isolating with their family.
"Most importantly with the confirmed case is that they are well, they are isolating with their family," he told BBC Breakfast.
"When I say that they are well, I mean they are not seriously ill. They have some symptoms but they do not require hospitalisation."
'Every possibility' of spread in communities
Dr Gogarty told ITV News that testing and tracing had begun as soon as it could, despite it being nearly a week between the person visiting the KFC and church, and the case being identified as the Omicron variant.
"It takes a long time for the person to have got the symptoms, got tested and for this to be identified through sequencing," he said. "The difficulty is the result took some days to come through and that's always the way with these results."
He said it was likely that the number of cases of the Omicron variant would continue to grow, both in the UK and internationally.
"We will need to continue where we do find cases to stop it spreading any further, in the way we are doing in Essex," said Dr Gogarty. "There's every possibility that there's some spread of this virus already within the communities."
Identification of the variant is done through genome sequencing, which takes place at several locations across the country including the Quadram Institute in Norwich.
Dr Andrew Page, head of informatics at the institute, said understanding the Omicron variant fully would take time.
"This variant is quite different. It has a lot of mutations but we don't really know much about them," he said.
"It is probably going to be about a week or two before we fully understand the basic dynamics of this variant. We expect in a few weeks if it as transmissible as people think it is probably going to sweep the country and become the dominant strain again."
Church and KFC co-operating with authorities
A spokesman for KFC said the person who tested positive had been a guest at the High Street restaurant between 1pm and 5pm on Friday, November 19, and urged anyone who had visited at those times to take a test.
"All team members at the restaurant have volunteered to take a PCR test as part of the targeted testing," she said.
"Operating responsibly remains our top priority, so we continue to follow all necessary guidance to maintain a safe, clean environment for our guests and teams.”
In a statement, the church said: "Since the news emerged of a person in Brentwood testing positive for the new variant of Covid, we have been working with NHS Test & Trace within the past 24 hours to support their efforts in regards to this new variant.
"While the person identified did not actually attend Trinity on November 21, someone connected with them did attend. We have encouraged all members to follow NHS Test & Trace requests and be tested at the identified testing sites."
Nine cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have now been detected in the UK.
Six cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant were identified in Scotland, the Scottish Government announced on Monday.
As well as the Brentwood case, one case was found in Nottingham and another in Westminster, central London, though the person involved in that case is no longer in the UK, said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Sunday.