Update on  New COVID-19 Variant

27 Nov Update on  New COVID-19 Variant

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named the new COVID-19 strain as ‘Omicron’ and classified it as a variant of concern.  The discovery of Omicron triggered global alarm on Friday as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

* Oil prices recorded their largest one-day drop since April 2020, falling $10 a barrel on Friday as Omicron spooked investors and added to concerns that a supply surplus could swell in the first quarter.

* The World Trade Organization (WTO) became the first major diplomatic casualty of the new coronavirus variant on Friday when it postponed its first ministerial meeting in four years due to the deteriorating health situation.

*The United States has issued a travel restriction on eight Southern African countries following the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant in the region. Other countries that have imposed restrictions are the UK, Australia, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Guatemala, Philippines and the EU, where Belgium reported its first infection from the virus

* However, the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has kicked against the rush of countries to impose of a travel ban on people originating from countries that have reported the new variant of Covid-19. It said “over the duration of this pandemic, we have observed that imposing bans on travellers from countries where a new variant is reported has not yielded a meaningful outcome.”

*Nigeria Caseload: On Friday, Nigeria reported 41 confirmed cases and zero deaths.  The new cases were reported from 6 States: Lagos (17), Plateau (10), Bauchi (4), Kano (4), Rivers (4) and Niger (2)

There are now 213924 confirmed cases, 207114 recoveries and 2975 deaths recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory

* The Federal Government has directed civil servants from Grade Level 12 and below to resume work effective Wednesday, December 1, 2021. They are, however,

to get vaccinated before resumption.

The directive, which is contained in a circular signed by the head of service of the federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, noted that beginning December 1, all federal government workers are requested “to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours.”