OMICRON NOT FOUND IN NIGERIA YET - NCDC SAYS

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, announced that the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has yet to be detected in Nigeria at the time of writing.

"While Omicron variant has so far not been detected in Nigeria, a number of cases have now been reported in the UK, Israel, Botswana, Hong Kong, Germany, Belgium, Italy and counting," NCDC director general, lfedayo Adetifa, said in a statement on Monday.

"No death has been attributed to this new variant yet, but 126 genomes of this variant have been detected globally and published on GISAID, which is a global mechanism for sharing sequencing data."

The director general added that the Ministry of Health and NCDC are aware of reports of this new COVID-19 variant the B.1.1.529 lineage. This variant has now been designated a variant of concern and named: Omicron by the World Health Organisation.

"Howbeit, we are monitoring emerging evidence on this new variant and its implication to inform Nigeria's response to the COVIDI9 pandemic," Mr Adetifa continued.

"But given the high number of mutations present in this Omicron variant and the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases observed in South Africa, the virus is considered highly transmissible and may also present an increased risk of reinfection compared to other variants of concern."

The Federal Government has enhanced surveillance at airports and other points of entry and mandated compulsory COVID-19 RCR testing at those places to ensure compliance with current travel guidance.