NCDC confirms three Omicron cases in Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed three more cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant in Nigeria.

In a statement on Tuesday, the agency stated that the fresh Omicron cases were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa.

“The NCDC 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 Nigeria. This includes sequencing of positive samples from international travellers from October 2021 to date.

“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. 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,” NCDC Director General, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa said.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant detected in Nigeria to six.

The NCDC had announced the detection of three cases on December 1, 2021.

The fresh Omicron cases were confirmed at a time when Nigeria is protesting the travel ban by some countries, including UK and Canada.