December 07, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed three additional cases of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2) of COVID-19 in the country.
NCDC director-general, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, in a statement on Tuesday said the three additional cases and the initial cases were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa in November.
He said the Centre, through the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) continues to coordinate genomic surveillance activities across the country to sequence all positive COVID-19 samples from international travellers arriving in the country.
This, he said, includes sequencing of positive samples from international travellers from October 2021 to date.
According to him, “The Delta variant remains the dominant variant and so far, we have not seen the replacement of this variant by the new Omicron variant as observed elsewhere.”
Adetifa said the Omicron variant is a source of global concern because of its increased risk of transmissibility and its potential to escape protective immune responses induced by natural infection and/or vaccination.
“Taken together, and if true, the Omicron variant can significantly change the current global COVID-19 epidemiology.
“There is currently no evidence of generalised or community transmission of this variant in Nigeria. However, the NCDC will continue coordinating and implementing genomic surveillance activities in country to keep Nigerians reliably informed about existing variants, the Omicron and indeed other variants that may arise based on national data and emerging global evidence.
“In line with Article 44 of the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) reporting framework, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the NCDC has also been notified
by the UK Government of seven cases of travellers from Nigeria with the Omicron variant. Given the reports of increasing numbers of Omicron cases in the UK, the NCDC is also prioritising the sequencing of COVID-19 positive samples in travellers with history of travel to the UK,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to take personal and collective responsibility to ensure the safety of all.
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