South African first country to record Omicron variant
The health service boss asks citizens to adhere to safety protocols.
Ghana has recorded two cases of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant
This, according to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye, was identified through the robust testing regime at the Kotoka International Airport, reports 3news.com
“There is the emergence of the new variant and I must say, through the robust testing at Kotoka International Airport, Ghana has detected the Omicron variant already and the cases have come mainly from Nigeria and South Africa. the very first case that was detected during our sequencing was on Wednesday, December 1 2021.
The new variant, according to the GHS, has not yet been detected in the communities
The GHS DG however mentioned that there is the potential of a community spread “if someone has omicron and it’s incubating it will not be detected at the airport”
He said it is important for all to adhere to all the Coronavirus protocols, particularly as we enter the festive season.
This makes it the first two official cases of the deadly variant of the novel coronavirus to be recorded in the country
This comes after the country’s neighbours, Nigeria confirmed some 3 cases of the new variant in the country
In recent times, though there has been a significant reduction in surging cases with vaccination in most countries, some different variants of the virus have emerged
Variants including the Delta variant emerged with their own characteristics, necessitating research and possible solutions
A new heavily mutated version of the Sars-Cov 2has been found as the latest variant of the virus. This variant which is known as the Omicron variant was first confirmed in South Africa
The World Health Organisation has said, “it is not clear yet whether the infection with Omicron causes more severe diseases compared to infection with other variants, including Delta. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron”
Source: Ghanaweb
