The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has confirmed two cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country.
This was contained in a statement and signed by the Director-General on NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa.
Omicron variant of COVID-19 was first detected in South Africa.
However, the NCDC on Wednesday morning said two cases of the variant were discovered through genomic sequencing.
It added that the two cases were detected in two passengers from South Africa.
The statement reads in part, “In line with the routine travel tests required of all international travellers and genomic sequencing at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control through its National Reference Laboratory, Abuja, confirms Nigeria’s first case of the Omicron variant.
“Genomic sequencing of positive cases from routine day two testing for travellers to Nigeria identified two cases of Omicron variant among travellers from South Africa who arrived in Nigeria last week.
“Retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travelers to Nigeria also identified the omicron variant among samples collected in October 2021”.
However, NCDC said the two patients were asymptomatic and contact tracing had begun.