By Nicholas Kalu, Abuja and Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba
The House of Representatives has mandated the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to step up the national response to control the emergence and spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 to spare the country another pandemic wave.
It mandated the NCDC to ensure intensive observation and check on travel protocols for inbound passengers.
The lawmakers mandated the Federal Ministry of Health to direct the COVID-19 Task Force to immediately activate strategies to be implemented in monitoring adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
They also urged the ministry to ensure residents continue to comply with advisories aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance concerning the emergence of the new variant of the virus moved by Dachung Bagos.
The House noted that on November 26, a new Covid-19 variant named Omicron was discovered in South Africa and had spread across the globe on Sunday.
The House said it was also aware that on the same date, the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated it a variant of concern on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE).
This decision, the House said, was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.
The House said it was further aware that researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron and will continue to share the findings of these studies as they become available.
It was concerned that 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.
It was also concerned that a total of 126 genomes of this variant have been detected globally and published on GISAID, a global mechanism for sharing sequencing data, and there seem to be a high number of mutations present in the Omicron variant and the exponential rise suggesting the virus to be highly transmissible and might also present an increased risk of reinfection compared to other variant of concern (VOC).
Supporting the motion, Henry Nwawuba said it was necessary to raise the consciousness of Nigerians on the Omicron variant, which has led to travel restrictions being placed on some countries in the southern part of Africa.
Resident doctors ask Nigerians to observe preventive measures
The Association of Resident Doctors, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (ARD-UITH), yesterday advised Nigerians to continue to observe the strict protocol in respect of Omicron variant.
ARD-UITH President Dr. Badmus Habeeb gave the advice during a news conference organised to mark the weeklong 38th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about numerous weaknesses and challenges of the healthcare system as well as outstretching its workforce resources.
UNICEF receives J&J vaccine for Nigeria
UNICEF Nigeria has received part of the 57 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines purchased by the Mastercard Foundation and the Africa CDC through the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative.
The 3,326,400 doses arrived at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, at 4.30 pm on Monday and will be delivered to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) for cold storage and distribution to vaccination centres.
Saving Lives and Livelihoods is focused on the purchase and delivery of more than 65 million vaccines for Africa.
Launched in June, the initiative is a $1.5 billion partnership that aims to enable vaccination for millions of people, develop a workforce for vaccine manufacturing, and strengthen the Africa CDC’s capacity to oversee a historic vaccination campaign and effectively respond to future outbreaks. “Timely delivery of these vaccines underscores the effectiveness of the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust. Working with the Africa CDC and multiple organisations, the Mastercard Foundation will support the rollout of vaccinations to millions across the continent.
“More remains to be done to increase vaccination rates urgently. We call on governments, funders, civil society, and others to step forward to save lives and livelihoods in Africa,” said Reeta Roy, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Mastercard Foundation.
Okowa advises citizens to vaccinate
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa yesterday urged Nigerians to take the COVID-19 vaccines.
Okowa said vaccination is safe and that no death had been recorded as a result of administration of the vaccine in the country.
The governor, who spoke yesterday in Asaba, said it had become very imperative for Nigerians to embrace vaccines, especially with the Omicron and Delta variants currently ravaging the world.
He stated that there was no shortage of vaccines in the state and the country, urging the people to take the vaccines as they were safe.
42 cases of variant confirmed in 10 EU states
Forty-two cases of Omicron variant have been confirmed in 10 European Union (EU) countries, the head of the EU’s public health agency said yesterday.
Authorities in the 27-nation EU were analysing another six “probable” cases, Andrea Ammon, who chairs the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), told an online conference organised by the EU’s Slovenian presidency.
She said the confirmed cases were mild or without symptoms, although in younger age groups.
Moderna: COVID-19 shots weaker against Omicron
Drugmaker Moderna set off fresh alarm bells in financial markets yesterday with a warning that existing Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines would be less effective against the Omicron variant than they have been against the Delta variant.
Major European stock markets fell around 1.5 per cent in early trade, Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed down 1.6 per cent, and crude oil futures shed more than three per cent as comments by Moderna’s chief executive of Stephane Bancel’s spurred fears that vaccine resistance may prolong the pandemic.
“There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level… we had with Delta,” Moderna chief told the Financial Times.
“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data.
