Japan reports first domestically acquired Omicron infection

Japan said on Thursday (Dec 16) that a staff member at a facility housing people found positive with the coronavirus after arriving in the country had tested positive for Omicron, in the first case of a domestically acquired infection of the variant.

The infected person, a woman in her 30s who belongs to the quarantine station at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, western Japan, had no recent history of travelling overseas, the health ministry said.

“It is strongly suspected that the infection took place within the facility… This woman is now in hospital and her condition is stable,” a health ministry official said at a media briefing.

The official declined to specify what type of tasks she had performed at the facility.

Agencies