Faith Nyasuguta
Uganda has confirmed seven cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng has announced.
According to Dr Aceng, the variant was detected in two travellers from South Africa and five others from Nigeria, who arrived in Uganda over a week ago.
The announcement has raised fears that the virus could have already spread to more people in the country.
Assuring Ugandans, the Minister said the travellers have been isolated and that they were not severely ill but required monitoring.
In a speech last week, Aceng had said they would carry out genomic sequencing on all samples.
On Tuesday she asserted that the variant could have spread all over the globe before it was detected, given that over 38 countries have already reported cases of the virus.
She said that the virus spread quickly, but does not seem to cause severe disease.
At the same time, Namibia has detected 18 cases of the Omicron coronavirus strain in the country according to President Hage Geingob during a Covid-19 public briefing.
“It is not time to panic,” he said.
He added, however, that the government could be forced to impose strict measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 Omicron variant.
Namibia’s Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula suggested that the virus spreads faster and they are seeing more re-infections with multiple mutations.
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