A traveler from Ghana residing in Chile has become the first person in this country to be diagnosed with the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, Chile’s health ministry reported on Saturday, in a statement sighted by AfrikPage.
“It was detected by a PCR test when he arrived in the country on November 25, the same day the World Health Organization reported the world’s first case of omicron,” the statement said.
According to the ministry, the foreigner residing in Chile entered the country with a negative PCR test and another PCR was performed at the Santiago airport upon arrival, and the test was positive.
“As part of the travelers protocol, the sample was sent for the genomic sequencing process to the Institute of Public Health to determine the variant, which identified the strain as omicron, ” the statement added.
The patient, who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, is currently in good health and was transferred to a health facility today after the new variant was confirmed, the ministry indicated.
As for passengers arriving on the same flight, the Ministry of Health is carrying out epidemiological monitoring with all health authorities to carry out a PCR test on all passengers.
Indeed, a few days ago, Ghana confirmed its first 34 cases of the new Omicron on travelers from Nigeria and South Africa.
Source: AfrikPage