Kenya Reports First Cases Of Covid-19 Omicron Variant

Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has confirmed the country’s first cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, just days after the Ministry of Health warned that the positivity rate was rising.

Health CS, Mutahi Kagwe made the confirmation on December 15, saying the variant had been detected in three passengers who have since been quarantined.

He was speaking during a consultative meeting with the Council of Governors at the Sarova White Sands Beach Resort to discuss health policy and legislative barriers.

“We have detected the Omicron virus among the Travelers and it will be dominant across the globe,” CS Kagwe said.

“We are carrying out sequencing to see it’s spread. We expect it to become the dominant variant globally.  We should all get vaccinated.  Those vaccinated are not getting severe sickness,” he added.

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Last week, Uganda announced it had detected cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in travelers coming into the country, the first infections to be reported in East Africa.

The cases were detected in people screened at Entebbe International Airport who flew in from five different countries, Ugandan medical authorities said in a statement.

Five had come from Nigeria, two from South Africa — where the variant was first reported — and two from the United Arab Emirates.

On Tuesday, results of a study published in South Africa showed two shots of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine offers around 70 percent protection against severe disease from Omicron.

The emergence of the highly mutated variant sparked fears that it could cause severe disease, be more contagious, or could evade vaccines.

Early indicators suggest that it could be more transmissible, but promising data so far has suggested that vaccines still offer protection against Omicron.

The CS warned that the variant was highly virulent and infectious, saying that for instance, a single carrier can infect an entire nightclub.

Kenya has yet to consider stringent measures to contain the disease’s spread, according to the Health Ministry’s boss, who claims that science, not emotions, will ultimately guide decisions.