Identification of the First SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.529 Virus Detected in Europe

Bert Vanmechelen; Anne-Sophie Logist; Tony Wawina-Bokalanga; Jens Verlinden; Joan Martí-Carreras; Caspar Geenen; Bram Slechten; Lize Cuypers; Emmanuel André; Guy Baele; Piet Maes

doi:10.1128/mra.01161-21

Identification of the First SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.529 Virus Detected in Europe

Microbiol Resour Announc. 2022 Feb 17;11(2):e0116121. doi: 10.1128/mra.01161-21. Epub 2022 Feb 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation, Laboratory of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Leuven, Belgium.
² KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation, Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, National Reference Laboratories for COVID-19, Leuven, Belgium.
³ UZ Leuven, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Leuven, Belgium.

Abstract

We report the complete genome sequence of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant (lineage B.1.1.529) from a Belgian patient with a history of recent travel to Egypt. At the time of writing, this genome constituted the first confirmed case of an infection with the Omicron variant in Europe.