Ghana's foremost biomedical research facility, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, has disclosed that 34 cases of the Omicron COVID-19 have been detected during tests at its lab in Accra.
The health alert by Noguchi explained that these 34 cases of the new variant were detected in some 120 samples collected from returning travellers between November 21 and 25, 2021.
“These are the first imported cases of the variant into Ghana, and we are closely monitoring its potential spread in the local population,” Noguchi said on its official Twitter handle.
Identified as Omicron by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new COVID-19 variant was detected and announced by South Africa's National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on 25 November from samples taken from a laboratory from 14 to 16 November.
Early findings suggest Omicron is more transmissible but scientists around the world are still scrutinising the variant to examine how transmissible it is and if the current vaccines will protect against it.
There is little data on how the variant has affected those outside of South Africa so it is not known if these symptoms will be similar for people infected with Omicron in other places.
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The announcement by Ghana's Noguchi on Thursday, December 2, on Twitter follows revelations by the Ghana Health Services that the variant has been detected in the country, although the GHS did not disclose the number of cases.
Noguchi is urging the public to continue adhering to the COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Health Alert!!!!!!!!!!#NMIMRCOVID-19@UnivofGh @DYMLab_NMIMR @WACCBIP_UG pic.twitter.com/WJhm2a0Spv
— Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (@NMIMR_UG) December 1, 2021
Since the outbreak of coronavirus Ghana on Thursday, March 12, 2020, the country has recorded 130,920 cases.
Out of the number, a total of 129,042 persons have recovered. However, 1,209 persons have succumbed to the disease.