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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced the detection of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Nigeria.
According to a statement by Ifedayo Adetifa, the NCDC director-general, the variant was detected in two Nigerians who arrived in the country last week
The Omicron variant, a new strain of the coronavirus disease, was first reported by South Africa.
Following the detection in South Africa, NCDC said there was no case in Nigeria but proper monitoring would be done.
On Tuesday the government of Canada had also stated that it discovered two cases of the variant from two passengers arriving from Nigeria.
The Federal Government through the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 had, however, said it was investigating the issue to get more details.
But the NCDC on Wednesday morning confirmed that the two cases were detected and linked to two passengers from South Africa.
“In line with the routine travel tests required of all international travelers and genomic sequencing at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control through its National Reference Laboratory, Abuja, confirms Nigeria’s first case of the Omicron variant.
“Retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travelers to Nigeria also identified the omicron variant among samples collected in October 2021”.the statement read.
