Worldwide health alert after cardiologist says he caught Covid variant during London conference trip

A London medical conference attended by hundreds of the UK’s leading cardiologists has sparked a worldwide health alert after a heart specialist contracted the omicron variant.

Organisers have issued a warning on its website to 1,200 delegates - about a third of them British - following a positive test for the new Covid-19 variant by a doctor from Israel.

Dr Elad Maor, 45, who was fully vaccinated with three shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, told The Telegraph he believed he contracted the omicron variant during his trip to London for the three-day conference that ended on November 23. That suggests the new variant was circulating in the UK for several days before Britain officially detected its first case on Saturday.

The UK Health Security Agency said it could not comment on individual cases but the event’s organisers, based in France, said it had still to be contacted by NHS Test & Trace about the positive result. Any close contacts of Dr Maor are required to self-isolate for 10 days - even if fully vaccinated - under new rules to try to contain the spread of the omicron strain. That in turn raises the prospect of dozens of cardiologists being forced to stay at home if they prove to be close contacts.

Dr Maor said he arrived in London on November 19 and stayed in a hotel in Islington for four days before flying back to Israel. He attended the PCR London Valves conference, attended by 1,250 delegates from around the world, including Africa, where the strain first originated.

Dr Maor, who works at the Sheba Medical Centre, had tested negative before boarding the flight home to Tel Aviv but began developing Covid-19 symptoms a few days later. He tested positive for the variant on November 27. By then, according to reports, he had performed several cardiac operations and came into contact with another cardiologist, aged 69, who is also now infected with the variant.

'If all were wearing masks then the risk of getting it would be smaller'

Dr Maor said he believed he contracted Covid in London, adding: “I am very frustrated and feel uncomfortable with people who do not wear masks and are reckless. You can see that many people were not wearing masks.I was using the tube and the DLR [Docklands Light Railway]. I don’t know where exactly I got it, but I feel like if all were wearing masks then the risk of getting it would be smaller."

Dr Maor said he spent 48 hours in bed at the weekend with flu-like symptoms including a cough and sore throat. He added that he was still feeling "weak" and hoped to recover soon.