Three more cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been confirmed in Nigeria.
The confirmation was contained in a statement by Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.
Following a Channels Television report, these fresh Omicron cases were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa.
Adetifa added that the NCDC through the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) will continue 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,” he further added.
While noting that the Delta variant remained the dominant variant, he however assured that Nigerians will be kept reliably informed about existing variants, the Omicron, and indeed other variants that may arise based on national data and emerging global evidence.
“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,” he further guaranteed.
