OMICRON: Reps charge COVID-19 Task Force, NCDC to intensify surveillance in Nigeria

The House of Representatives on Tuesday charged the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to intensify surveillance in a bid to prevent the spread of the new strain of the virus, Omicron, in the country.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by a member of the House, Danchung Bagos.

In his presentation, Dachubg said the surveillance was to ensure that Nigerians continue to comply with all advisories aimed at checking the spread of COVID-19.

The new variant, according to him, was discovered in South Africa on November 26.

The lawmaker said: “It (Omicron) spreads across the globe on Sunday, as countries shut borders and renewed curbs.

“WHO designated the Omicron a variant of concern on the advice of its Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE).

“This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.”

READ ALSO: Expert explains Covid-19 Omicron variant symptoms

Bagos also expressed concern that Canada detected its first case of the Omicron strain in two people who had travelled recently to Nigeria.

He added: “The government of Ontario confirmed that the two cases are in the Capital, Ottawa, and also preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of re-infection with Omicron (ie, people who have previously had COVID-19 could become re-infected more easily with Omicron), as compared to other variants of concern.

“Concerned that a total of 126 genomes of this variant have been detected globally and published on GISAID, a global mechanism for sharing sequencing data, and there seem to be a high number of mutations present in the Omicron variant,”

The House urged the NCDC to ensure total compliance with travel protocols for inbound passengers as well as step up national response to control the emergence and spread of the new variant.

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