Omicron is now the dominant coronavirus variant in Switzerland and has even caused triple-jabbed people to be admitted to hospital, AFP quoted officials as saying.

Switzerland has one of the highest infection rates in continental Europe, with people in their 20s the most affected, officials told a press conference in the capital Bern.

Around 55 per cent of Swiss cases are now due to Omicron, and the variant is soon expected to represent almost all recorded infections.

The country has registered around 40 cases of people who had received a “booster” third vaccine dose but nonetheless ended up in hospital with the Omicron strain, said the health ministry's crisis management chief Patrick Mathys.