Nigeria confirms first Omicron cases in airport arrivals in past week

Nigeria on Wednesday confirmed its first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in air passenger arrivals, but amended an earlier statement to say the travellers had arrived in Nigeria only over the past week. Initially, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said that retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed COVID cases among travellers to Nigeria had identified the Omicron variant among a sample collected in October. An amended statement from the NCDC did not mention the October sample and a spokesman said that sample contained the Delta variant, not Omicron. First reported in southern Africa a week ago, Omicron has highlighted the disparity between massive vaccination programs in rich nations and sparse inoculation in the developing world. The NCDC said Omicron was detected in "three persons with a history of travel to South Africa".<br/>