FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MONITORS NEW COVID VARIANT OMICRON, AS CANADA DETECTS TWO CASES FROM NIGERIA

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Sunday said it was monitoring emerging evidence on the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, which was first recently identified in Southern Africa.

According to reports, the new variant is considered highly transmissible and has already triggered a new wave of travel restrictions targeted at countries in Southern Africa.

However, the NCDC in a statement signed by its Director-General, Ifedayo Adetifa, said, the fears about its ability to evade protective immune responses or the variant being vaccine-resistant are only theoretical so far.

Noting that the World Health Organisation, WHO and researchers across the world are working at speed to gain understanding of the likely impact of this variant on the severity of COVID-19 and on the potency of existing vaccines and therapeutics, the NCDC urged Nigerians to take necessary precautions.

The disease control agency further advised Nigerians to make every use of the currently available opportunities to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Canada announced that it has detected its first cases of the new Omicron strain of Covid, in two people who had travelled recently to Nigeria.

The government of Ontario confirmed the two cases in the capital Ottawa,

Noting that both patients are in isolation while public health authorities trace their possible contacts.