Two Cases of Omicron Variant found in Nigeria- NCDC confirms
Two fresh cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed.
A statement Wednesday morning signed by NCDC’s Director-General, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, linked the two cases of Omicron variant to passengers from South Africa.
Last Friday, November 26, 2021, World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE).
The decision was based on the evidence presented to the advisory group that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, “for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.”
NCDC had warned Nigerians to avoid visiting countries where cases have been reported including South Africa, Botswana, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
However, recently, Canada said it discovered two cases of Omicron from two passengers from Nigeria.
What is Omicron?
A new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, known as B.1.1.529, has been labeled the “Omicron variant” by the World Health Organization and classified as a “variant of concern.”
NCDC said, “In line with the routine travel tests required of all international travellers and genomic sequencing at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control through its National Reference Laboratory, Abuja, confirms Nigeria’s first case of the Omicron variant.
Two Cases of Omicron Variant found in Nigeria- NCDC confirms
”Genomic sequencing of positive cases from routine day two testing for travellers to Nigeria identified two cases of Omicron variant among travellers from South Africa who arrived in Nigeria last week.
“Retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travellers to Nigeria also identified the Omicron variant among samples collected in October 2021.”
Where Omicron was discovered
The first case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was confirmed in Spain on Monday by the service of microbiology at the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid.
The NCDC added that it had begun contact tracing even though the two passengers were asymptomatic (of a condition or a person producing or showing no symptoms) to uncovering Omicron.
