The Nigeria Center for Disease Control said in a second
statement that it was the delta variant — not omicron as it had earlier stated
— that was detected in the samples from October. It said the omicron variant
was first detected in three travelers who arrived in the country in the past
week.
“Samples obtained for the stipulated day two test for all
travelers to Nigeria were positive for this variant in three persons with
history of travel to South Africa,” Nigeria CDC director-general Dr. Ifedayo
Adetifa said in the second statement.
Nigeria is the first West African country to have recorded
the omicron variant since scientists in southern Africa detected and reported
it and adds to a list of nearly 20 countries where the variant has been
recorded, triggering travel bans across the world.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including
whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it
makes people more seriously ill, and if it can thwart the vaccine.
The Nigeria CDC urged the country’s states and the general
public to be on alert and called for improved testing amid concerns that
Nigeria’s low testing capacity might become its biggest challenge in the face
of the new variant.
Testing for the virus is low in many states and even in the
nation’s capital, Abuja. For instance, in parts of Kuje, a suburb of Abuja,
Musa Ahmed, a public health official, told The Associated Press that no one has
been tested for the virus for weeks.
The detection of the omicron variant in Africa’s most
populous nation, with 206 million people, coincides with Nigeria’s new
requirement that all federal government employees must be inoculated or present
a negative COVID-19 test result done in the last 72 hours.
With the vaccine mandate taking effect on Wednesday, there
were chaotic scenes at several offices in the nation’s capital as civil
servants without a vaccination card or a negative PCR test were turned away by
security agents.
Many of the workers and security agents were not wearing
face masks.
“Governments should invest in promoting narratives around
vaccine safety, efficacy, and the broader public health security implications
of poor vaccines uptake,” Adewunmi Emoruwa, lead strategist at Gatefield, an
Abuja-based consultancy. “If public servants are convinced about these issues,
they are naturally more effective advocates to their constituents.”
Across Nigeria, the news of the omicron variant — which the
World Health Organization has warned poses “very high” risk — has triggered
concerns and renewed fears over the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and economic
hub, authorities insisted that travelers must wear their face masks at the
counters, though not much attention is paid to many others flouting health protocols
around the airport premises and in the city.
Nigeria — with 214,218 confirmed infections including nearly
3,000 deaths — has updated its travel advisory, ordering incoming international
travelers to have a PCR test 48 hours before embarking on their trip to the
country and two more tests, two days and seven days after arrival. Incoming
international arrivals must also isolate for seven days.
Amid global concern over the omicron variant, the Nigeria
CDC director-general told reporters that the country remains at alert in the
face of the emerging crisis.
“We are working very hard to enhance ongoing surveillance,
especially for inbound travelers, and also trying to ramp up testing
(including) at the land borders,” he said.
A slew of nations moved to ban travels from many countries
especially southern African nations in the aftermath of the emergence of the
omicron variant. But the move has been widely condemned by many including South
Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is currently in Nigeria on a two-day
visit.
Ghana also announced Wednesday that its scientists have
detected cases of the omicron coronavirus variant in passengers who arrived in
the country on Nov. 21.
The cases were detected at the Kotoka International Airport
in the capital, Accra, after tests were conducted on incoming passengers, the
Director General of the Ghana Health Service Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said
Wednesday.
“We have not seen any omicron within the community of
Ghana,” he said, according to tests in the country. But, he added, the danger
is that omicron could be incubating in Ghana.
Further west on the continent, Liberia launched surveillance
along its borders and placed health officers assigned there on full alert
although no cases of the omicron variant have been reported there.
Liberia’s Health Minister Wilhelmina Jallah urged citizens
to take preventive measures but not panic. She urged them to take advantage of
the vaccination campaign.
“You cannot go to war if you are not prepared for the war,”
she said. “And our preparation for this war against COVID-19 — whether it is
alpha, delta or omicron — is to protect ourselves by getting at least a jab in
your arm ... so we just want to raise this heightened alert.”
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