Andrea Ammon, who chairs the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said on Tuesday that they have confirmed 42 cases of the Omicron variant in the EU, as reported by Reuters.

Ammon further noted that the severity of the disease in those cases was mild and added that results on whether omicron escapes vaccines will be available in a couple of weeks.

Market reaction

Safe-haven flows continue to dominate the financial markets. As of writing, the Euro Stoxx 50 Index was down 1.4% on a daily basis.