Senegal has detected its first three cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in travelers preparing to travel to other African countries, research laboratories have said. A first case was detected on December 3 in a 58-year-old man who arrived in Senegal on November 22 by a flight from a country in the sub-region, according to a statement released by the Institute for Health Research, epidemiological surveillance and training (Iressef).
Senegal registers its first positive case with the Omicron variant
Iressef, thanks to its genomics laboratory, detected the first positive case for the Omicron variant this Friday, December 3, 2021 in an outgoing traveler.– Iressef (@iressef) December 5, 2021
The man had been vaccinated on April 13 with AstraZeneca and on June 25 with Pfizer, the institute said. “He stayed in Dakar in a hotel and took part in a demonstration which brought together nearly 300 people of several nationalities. The demonstration took place from November 24 to 25 “, adds the press release. The research institute specifies that the case was isolated in quarantine and followed in a specialized center. “As of Saturday, December 4, he has no symptoms”, adds the institute.
The Institut Pasteur in Dakar, for its part, announced in a press release on Sunday December 5 that it had identified two other cases of infection with the Omicron variant. One is a 28-year-old man taken on November 23 in Dakar and on his way to a West African country. The other is a 29-year-old woman who was in a hotel in Dakar on her way to southern Africa.
As part of the genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, the Pasteur Institute in Dakar identified its first two cases of infection with the variant #Omicron (B.1.1.529) in two travelers leaving Dakar,#OmicronVarious # Covid19 #DeltaVariant pic.twitter.com/69iERq2VJC
– Institut Pasteur de Dakar Foundation (@PasteurDakar) December 5, 2021
Senegal has recorded a total of 74,024 cases of Covid-19 and 1 186 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The government launched a vaccination campaign in February, but the vaccination rate is low due in particular to the reluctance of the populations. So far, 1,328,633 people have been vaccinated out of a population of approximately 17 million. “Vaccination remains the best preparation, so I will ask all Senegalese to be vaccinated. Vaccines are available everywhere in the country. All vaccines are available in Senegal, except Moderna”, specifies the Minister of Health, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, at Day-to-day. The newspaper reveals that 200,000 expired doses had to be thrown away, “showing the weak adherence of citizens to the vaccine strategy”.
Before Senegal, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, Ghana, Botswana and Tunisia announced their first cases of this variant discovered at the end of November in South Africa.