Nigeria has recorded its first case of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 that was recently detected in South Africa.
The development was disclosed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) which confirmed two cases of Omicron in the country.
This was contained in a statement recently issued by the NCDC Director-General, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa who revealed that the two cases were detected through genomic sequencing.
According to the NCDC boss, these cases were detected in two passengers who came into Nigeria from South Africa. He added that the patients were asymptomatic and contact tracing had started.
He added: ”Genomic sequencing of positive cases from routine day two testing for travellers to Nigeria identified two cases of Omicron variant among travellers from South Africa who arrived in Nigeria last week.
“Retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travellers to Nigeria also identified the omicron variant among samples collected in October 2021.”
