Northern Ireland reports first Omicron cases

BELFAST - The British region of Northern Irealnd on Tuesday reported its first three cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, with all related to travel from other parts of the United Kingdom.

Two cases were found in the same household in the greater Belfast area with a third case detected in the southeast of Northern Ireland, the region's health department said in a statement.

All three positive cases have links to travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the statement said.

Britain on Tuesday said it has so far detected 437 cases of Omicron.

The Republic of Ireland reported its first Omicron case last week.