Bhutan has reported its first 14 cases of Omicron coronavirus variant, a health official said, amid a surge of the pandemic in the Himalayan kingdom that has so far been relatively successful at keeping the disease at bay.

Sonam Wangchuk, chief of the Royal Centre for Disease Control, said all cases were samples collected from quarantine facilities where travellers from abroad stay.

"We have not detected any case of Omicron in the community yet," Wangchuk told Reuters from Thimphu.