Omicron variant cases in Nigeria increase to three – NCDC

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control announced on Wednesday that Nigeria has now reported three cases of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Osun reporters had reported a few hours ago that the center had announced two cases of the new variant.

A statement signed by the Director General, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, reads in part: “The Nigerian Center for Disease Control conducts case surveillance and genomic surveillance of inbound international travelers arriving in the country at its national reference laboratory, Abuja and a network of other testing laboratories. . Sequencing of samples from incoming COVID-19 positive travelers is currently carried out in laboratories with sequencing capacity across the country and all sequencing data is shared in publicly accessible databases.

“This genomic surveillance has now identified and confirmed the first Nigerian cases of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 line, now known as the Omicron variant. Samples obtained for the stipulated second day test for all travelers to Nigeria were positive for this variant in three people who had previously traveled to South Africa.

These cases were recent arrivals in the country last week. Follow-up to ensure isolation, link to clinical care, contact tracing and other relevant intervention activities began.

Arrangements are also made to notify the country of origin of the trip in accordance with the provisions of the International Health Regulations.

The NCDC assumes that Omicron is prevalent around the world given the increasing number of countries reporting this variant. Therefore, it is a question of when, and not if, we will identify other cases. We continue to expand our in-country sequencing capacity at NCDC-NRL, through our network of public health laboratories and other partners.

“Our goal is to complete the sequencing of recently accumulated samples from SARS-COV-2 positive travelers from all countries, especially those from countries that have reported the Omicron variant.”