On Tuesday afternoon, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control confirmed that three further occurrences of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus had been reported.
The new cases raise the total number of cases of the COVID-19 virus variant recently found in Nigeria to six.
The World Health Organization has labeled the Omicron variant, which was first reported by South Africa, as a “variant of concern,” according to the PUNCH.
The NCDC said in a statement signed by its Director-General, Ifedayo Adetifa, that three more cases were discovered in travellers linked to South Africa in November.
The statement partly reads, “The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has confirmed three more cases of COVID-19 with the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, i.e., the Omicron variant, in Nigeria.
“In addition to the three cases announced earlier on 1st December 2021, this brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant detected in Nigeria to six. All the Omicron cases so far were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa in November.
“The Delta variant remains the dominant variant and so far, we have not seen the replacement of this variant by the new Omicron variant as observed elsewhere.”
