The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in the country.
According to the press release issued by the center on Wednesday morning and signed by the Director – General of the Center, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, the cases of the variant were linked to passengers from South Africa and they were discovered through genomic sequencing.
The report stated that retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travelers to Nigeria has also identified the Omicron variant among the samples that were collected in October 2021
However, the center stated that contact tracing had begun regarding the patients which were asymptomatic
The B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, known as Omicron variant is fast spreading worldwide with countries already having travel ban and restrictions in place for some countries suspected to have the variant.
