Ecuador confirms 19 more cases of new coronavirus variant Omicron

Ecuador has confirmed 19 more cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total number of cases to 22, the Ministry of Public Health said Tuesday.

All 19 cases were detected in the southwest coastal province of Guayas, the ministry said in a statement.

Those infected with this variant of coronavirus, originally identified in South Africa, were in contact with a case detected last week in Guayas' capital Guayaquil, according to the ministry.

All the people have mild symptoms and were isolated, since they were identified as contacts of the case, the ministry said, adding "an epidemiological fence has been established through their contacts and the contacts of the contacts."

The case was confirmed by health authorities on Dec. 17 in Guayaquil, involving a 48-year-old woman who was infected at a social gathering.

Ecuador's first case was confirmed on Dec. 14 and involves an Ecuadorian engineer who arrived in the country from South Africa.