Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA has said that it is waiting to enforce any directive from the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19 on measures to prevent the spread of the new variant Omicron into the country. Also the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN said all relevant agencies in charge of health checks at the nation’s airports have been placed on red alert to prevent the importation of the new covid-19 new variant, Omicron, into the country. General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Mrs Herrietta Yakubu said the agencies and Port Health officials have been given the clear order to ensure no passengers from the affected countries enter the country unscreened.
Mrs Yakubu said “There will be an enforcement of all the Protocols and procedures put in place for the covid-19 already on ground. All the Agencies concerned and Port Health, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority,NCAA, FAAN ,etc have been all put on notice to ensure no passenger comes into the Country with this variant.”
Also speaking the General Manager Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye said the regulator is waiting for directives from the Presidential Committee on Covid-19. He said all measures and directives usually come from the Committee and it directs NCAA on what to enforce. “We are waiting for the Presidential Steering Committee to issues directives on ways to prevent the spread of the new variant to Nigeria. NCAA can only enforce the federal government directives,” Adurogboye emphasised.
On Sunday, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said in a statement that the centre is “prioritising sequencing of recently accrued samples from SARS-COV-2 positive travellers from all countries, especially those from countries that have reported the Omicron variant already.” Though Canada said on Sunday it has detected its first cases of the new Omicron strain of Covid in two people who had travelled recently to Nigeria, the Federal Government had claimed that the new COVID-19 variant was not in Nigeria yet.
The World Health Organisation WHO, on its part said that the heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have “severe consequences” in some places. No Omicron-linked deaths had yet been reported, though further research was needed to assess its potential to resist vaccines and immunity induced by previous infections, it added. Anticipating increased case numbers as the variant, first reported last week, spreads, the U.N. agency urged its 194 member states to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups. “Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic,” the WHO said. “The overall global risk …is assessed as very high.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said Omicron’s emergence showed how “perilous and precarious” the situation was.
