Insight Bureau: Nigeria and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday confirmed their first cases of Covid-19 new variant Omicron taking the tally to 22.
Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria on Wednesday confirmed its first cases of the new Covid-19 variant, among three passengers who had arrived from South Africa. “Genomic surveillance has now identified and confirmed Nigeria’s first cases of the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, now known as the Omicron variant,” said the head of Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control, Ifedayo Adetifa.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has also recorded the Gulf’s first confirmed case of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in a citizen returning from North Africa, a health ministry official said Wednesday.
Home to around 210 million people, the West African nation has launched vaccination campaigns and requires civil servants to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter public buildings.
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Saudi Arabia last week halted flights from seven southern African countries, mirroring similar moves by other government, but travel links with North Africa have remained unaffected.
Notably, Since its detection, the Omicron strain has been reported in 22 countries now. Previously Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and UK confirmed their first cases of the new variant.
List of Countries with Omicron Variant:
➡️ Australia
➡️ Austria
➡️ Belgium
➡️ Botswana
➡️ Brazil
➡️ Canada
➡️ Czech Republic
➡️ Denmark
➡️ Germany
➡️ Hong Kong
➡️ Israel
➡️ Italy
➡️ Netherlands
➡️ Nigeria
➡️ Portugal
➡️ Saudi Arabia
➡️ South Africa
➡️ Spain
➡️ Sweden
➡️ Switzerland
➡️ UK
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