Nigeria, Ghana detect first cases of Omicron variant

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, announced on Wednesday 1^er December to have detected three first cases of the Omicron variant in travelers from South Africa last week, when President Cyril Ramaphosa is on an official visit to Abuja.

Ghana, its West African neighbor, also announced on Wednesday that it had detected its first cases of the Omicron variant in travelers from Nigeria and South Africa.

The announcements come as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, the first stop on a tour planned by the Head of State in West Africa.

South Africa is the first country to have officially notified the appearance of this variant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 24. Since then, many countries around the world have suspended flights from southern Africa.

Already in several European countries

These restrictions have been denounced by South Africa, but also by the WHO. And recent analyzes of older samples have shown that the variant was circulating in several European countries before its discovery in South Africa.

At a joint press conference in Abuja by Mr Ramaphosa and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the South African head of state again called for the restrictions to be lifted.

“Officials from Côte d’Ivoire, where we are traveling later today, as well as those from Ghana and Senegal, have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the flight ban taken against South Africa and our sister countries. from southern Africa ‘, he added.

“It is a global pandemic and overcoming it requires that we collaborate and work together, as a collective”, he added, specifying that the economic impact of these restrictions will be ” considerable “.

“Widely distributed in the world”

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said in a statement that the tests of three people who traveled to South Africa had failed. “Tested positive for the variant”.

“These people arrived in Nigeria last week”, added the authorities who say they have put in place a follow-up to ensure their isolation and the search for contact cases. “Omicron is widely used around the world. Thus, it is a question of knowing when, and not if, more cases will be identified ”, added the authorities.

The most populous country in Africa has so far officially recorded 214,113 cases of Covid-19 and 2,976 deaths. Low figures, compared to its 210 million inhabitants, but probably underestimated, due to a low number of tests carried out.

Nigeria recently launched a mass vaccination campaign in the country, but vaccination rates remain low, with only 3.5 million people having received two injections so far. The government has announced plans to vaccinate 112 million people by the end of next year, or 70% of the country’s adult population.

After the news of the discovery of the Omicron variant in South Africa, Nigeria had ordered travelers to carry out a test two days after their arrival, in addition to the one already requested a week after entering the territory.