Number of COVID-19 Omicron variant cases in Europe as of April 2022
In late-November 2021, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization due to fears about a higher transmissibility from the variant and a possible decrease in the effectiveness of vaccines against it. The Omicron variant has been detected in multiple countries since the discovery, and as of April 1, 2022, almost 965 thousand cases have been sequenced in the United Kingdom.