A company Christmas party is Oslo Norway became the sire of an Omicron superspreader event. Up to 60 people may have been infected at the company party held at Louise Restaurant & Bar at Aker Brygge. 13 of the infections so far have been confirmed to be the Omicron variant.
The Nov. 26, 2021 outbreak took place at a Christmas party organized by renewable energy company Scatec, which has operations in South Africa where the variant was first detected.
At least one employee had just returned from South Africa. All the attendees were fully vaccinated and had tested negative before the event.
Preben Aavitsland, a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told Reuters by email, “Our working hypothesis is that at least half of the 120 participants were infected with the Omicron variant during the party. This makes this, for now, the largest Omicron outbreak outside South Africa.”
Health authorities said the individuals infected were so far displaying mild symptoms, with none hospitalized.”It is still too early to say whether the clinical picture of the disease is different in Omicron infections than in Delta infections,” Aavitsland said.
The outbreak led the Norwegian government to reintroduce some nationwide restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. Across Europe, companies are cancelling Christmas party plans due to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Daily new cases are exponentially spiking in Norway.