The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has confirmed three additional cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country.
NCDC Director-general, Ifedayo Adetifa, disclosed in a statement on Tuesday that the new cases were detected in individuals with recent travel history to South Africa.
This brings the number of cases of the variant to six. The NCDC had on December 1, announced that it detected three cases of the new variant.
“All the Omicron cases so far were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa in November,” the statement said.
“The NCDC through the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) continues to coordinate genomic surveillance activities across the country to sequence all positive COVID-19 samples from international travelers arriving in Nigeria. This includes sequencing of positive samples from international travelers from October 2021 to date.”
The statement said Nigeria had been notified by the UK government of seven cases of travelers from Nigeria who tested positive for the variant.
“Given the reports of increasing numbers of Omicron cases in the UK, the NCDC is also prioritising the sequencing of COVID-19 positive samples in travelers with a history of travel to the UK,” it said.
