The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed its first case of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in Nigeria.
The NCDC disclosed this on Wednesday morning in a statement confirming the detection of the variant also known as the B.1.1.529 lineage.
The agency revealed the samples obtained for the stipulated day-2 test for all travellers to Nigeria were positive for this variant in three persons with a history of travel to South Africa.
The NCDC said, “Sequencing of samples from COVID-19 positive inbound travellers is currently conducted in laboratories with sequencing capacity in the country and all the sequencing data are shared in publicly accessible databases.”
It added that the genomic surveillance has now identified and confirmed Nigeria’s first cases of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, now known as the Omicron variant as samples obtained for the stipulated day two test for all travellers to Nigeria were positive for this variant in three persons with a history of travel to South Africa.
“These cases were recent arrivals in the country in the past week. Follow up to ensure isolation, linkage to clinical care, contact tracing and other relevant response activities have commenced. Arrangements are also being made to notify country where travel originated according to the provisions of the International Health Regulations”.
The NCDC added that it assumes Omicron is widespread globally given the increasing number of countries reporting this variant.