Uganda has confirmed seven cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The cases were confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
In a report released today, the Health Ministry says out of the 11 SARS- Cov-2 PCR positive samples collected from travelers arriving at Entebbe International Airport on 29th November, 2021, seven were classified as belonging to the Omicron variant. The other 4 genomes were of the Delta variant (also a VOC).
“We report for the first-time detection of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) in Uganda from samples taken from travelers arriving in the country through Entebbe International airport. The Omicron variant has been designated as a variant of concern by the WHO and presents with some deletions and more than 30 mutations in the spike region. As the number of Omicron cases increases globally, there is a need for near real-time genomic surveillance to keep track of emerging and circulating variants for the
effective control of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.”
The Omicron variant has been detected in at least 40 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, the World Health Organization said last weekend, amid warnings that it could damage the global economic recovery.
The WHO warned it could take weeks to determine how infectious the variant is, whether it causes more severe illness and how effective treatments and vaccines are against it.
Omicron which was first identified by health experts in South Africa on November 24, has more than 50 mutations, of which at least 30 are in the spike protein that the virus uses to gain entry to host cells. These mutations may affect how the variant behaves, spreads, and the the severity of the disease it causes.
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