Omicron COVID-19 Variant: Nigeria On Alert – Government

Nigeria has been put on the alert over the new COVID-19 variant called Omicron, the Federal Government said yesterday.

To prevent the new variant of the virus in the country, it has increased testing of reported COVID-19 cases and  surveillance at all entry ports.

Today, the Federal Government is expected to release its reviewed COVID-19 guidelines for inbound and outbound travellers, which will not exempt diplomats.

Also, the results of some samples being sequenced for possible Omicron will be out.

No fewer than 3.6 million Nigerians have been fully vaccinated while Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Nasarawa states are leading the vaccination coverage.

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire; Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Ifedayo Adetifa and  Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Faisal Shuaib, spoke on the new wave during the COVID-19 briefing by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) in Abuja.

Ehanire, who was emphatic that there was no confirmed case of Omicron in Nigeria, said:  ”We have always made it clear that we are not yet out of the woods and we are still required to be careful about our movements and about our compliance with advisories.

“The focus suddenly came some days ago about a new variant that just appeared in Botswana and South Africa. It has created some anxiety all over the world and in Nigeria. We have taken measures to ensure that Nigeria is not in a dangerous situation.

“Federal Government is increasing measures of surveillance at our ports of entry and testing and trying to encourage all the participants to come on their toes.

“Vaccination can help us and the non-pharmaceutical interventions or public health measures which we have been preaching for a very long time and which we will not get tired of preaching.

“The B11529 Omicron variant can transmit very rapidly and easily, but up till now, thankfully not many fatalities have been recorded globally. The new variant has been seen in Europe, Hong Kong, and  Canada.

“In Nigeria, the sequence has already started of all cases that are coming up. We received reports of a citizen of our country who tested positive in Canada. We are scaling up genomic sequencing.

“As far as preparation for the COVID-19 Omicron variant is concerned, we are adopting a watchful, waiting posture, in that we are looking very closely at all developments and watching the point of entry, particularly with a lot of alerts.”

Adefila, who also said there was no confirmed case of  Omicron in Nigeria, added that results of the “pipeline of samples will be ready tomorrow(today).”.

He said: “Concerning the two cases reported in Canada with a history of travel in Nigeria. We are awaiting the full information from the Canadian authorities to know who these travellers are and more importantly to understand the nature of travel.

“We also know that there is a traveler who we have been alerted to by the United Kingdom(UK) authorities, who traveled to Nigeria from South Africa by the way of the UK.

“We have been able to confirm that the return PCR test was negative and the repeat day-two test is also negative, and this passenger was fully vaccinated.”

PSC’s National Incident Manager, Mukhtar Muhammad, said that new travel guidelines, which would take effect    December 3, 2021, would be announced by the committee today.

He added that there would be strict enforcement of the guidelines as part of the efforts to prevent the importation of Omicron.

He explained that there would be strict enforcement of the guidelines as part of the efforts to prevent the importation of Omicron.

Muhammad said: “The  PSC will be issuing a travel guideline document tomorrow (today), but let me highlight the contents of this travel guideline.

“Passengers arriving the country are required to do a PCR test 48 hours before departing. They will also do day two and day seven PCR tests on arrival and they will be required to self-isolate for seven days.

“Passengers that are outbound, going out of Nigeria will be required to either show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or provide a negative PCR test taken 48 hours before departure. These conditions apply to diplomats as well. The measures will come into effect by Friday, 3rd of December, 2021.

“The PSC will ensure that there is enforcement of passengers who arrive and refuse to take the test through suspension of their passports and prosecution or both. Furthermore, we’ll be increasing our surveillance at the ports of entry into the country, intensify testing and contact tracing, and optimise sequencing capacity.”

– The Nation