Flight network: The spread of Omicron

In addition to mobility and contacts, we are now looking at the worldwide air transportation network and how the new Omicron variant might spread across it.

While the local mobility of people and their contacts help us understand how infection events change in Germany, for the global spread of a new variant, the flight network is crucial.

In the new flight network analysis, we build on an earlier study Brockmann et al. to give a probability of a country importing the new variant from South Africa and Botswana.

The variant has already reached 11 other countries, some of which do not have a direct flight connection to South Africa and Botswana. With a special focus on Europe, we also present the most threatened European airports.

Feel free to email us with questions or feedback at mobility-monitor@rki.de.