Health
Breaking: NCDC Confirms Omicron Variant In Nigeria
By Emmanuel Aziken
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has launched an aggressive contact tracing of persons who related with two persons who imported the worrisome Omicron variant of Coronavirus into the country from South Africa.
The NCDC disclosed the information following the confirmation on Wednesday morning that the Omicron variant had been detected in the country.
The NCDC in a statement issued by the Director-General, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa said that the Omicron variant was discovered in two persons just returned from South Africa.
The NCDC in the statement said:
“In line with the routine travel tests required of all international travellers, genomic sequencing at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control through its National Reference Laboratory, Abuja, confirms Nigeria’s first case of the Omicron variant.
“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”.
The NCDC however added that the two patients were asymptomatic and contact tracing had begun.
GreenWhiteGreen GWG reports that the Omicron variant was first isolated in persons in the Southern African region. The variant which has since spread to different regions of the world is said to be particularly of concern because of its high infectious rate even among vaccinated persons.
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