Health experts have called on the Federal Government to improve testing and surveillance toward detecting new variants of COVID-19 and adjusting response to the pandemic.
The experts are Prof. Oyewale Tomori, a virologist and Chairman, Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 and Prof. Tanimola Akande, Professor of Public Health, University of Ilorin.
They spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
NAN reports that the Omicron is a variant of the COVID-19 virus, first detected in South Africa and reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Nov. 24.
The WHO on Nov. 26, designated variant B.1.1.529 as a ‘variant of concern’ and named it Omicron, warning that the global risks posed by it were “very high.”
Akande said that control measures, including strict surveillance at airports, effective enforcement of COVID-19 travel protocols and use of non-pharmaceutical interventions should be intensified.
He appealed to the government to improve on COVID-19 testing and genomic sequencing of the variants detected in the country.
“Canada has placed a travel ban on Nigeria because it suspect the virus had been with us for a while, now that we have detected it, we do not know the magnitude of its spread.
“In Nigeria, we’ve neglected most of the preventive measures and behave as if COVID-19 is no longer with us. We need to bring preventive measures back,” he said.
The public health expert called for measures to increase the number of vaccinated people, stressing that more vaccines would be needed for Nigerians to be protected.
“We hope that the global community will see the need to give more vaccines to African countries, because for as long as we don’t have enough vaccines, new variants will keep emerging,” he said.
On travel ban, Akande said that the issue had its merits and demerits, noting that it should only be activated if necessary.
“We shouldn’t jump into it because some of the ban are more of a political thing; I believe that banning travels is more of pressing the panic button.
“Enforce preventive measures, test everyone coming into the country, however, corruption is a challenge because some people come in without testing and self-isolating.
“If we enforce effectively, we won’t think of travel ban,” the don said.
He further said recent findings had revealed that the omicron was not as deadly as thought, saying the symptoms were mild, however, a higher rate of spread.
Akande advised the public to always wear a face mask, regular washing of hands and observe physical distancing to reduce the risk of infection.
However, Tomori said that Nigeria should effect a temporary ban on flights from South Africa, noting that the variant emanated from there and infections was surging in the country.
The virologist said that the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 should hold an emergency meeting, analyse the facts and take a decision from it.
He faulted the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for not partnering the Canadian government after its detection of omicron variant from Nigerian travelers
According to him, some passengers are presenting fake negative COVID-19 PCR results, noting that some of such passengers will be detected with infection upon arrival at their destination.
The virologist advised NCDC to ensure that all its laboratories across the country were operating at optimal level.
He noted that between 40 and 50 NCDC laboratories were no longer reporting COVID-19 infections, stressing that it gave false confidence to citizens and portended grave danger.
Tomori also urged the government to intensify surveillance efforts, stressing that the airports and borders were porous.
“We must double our efforts in observing all the safety protocols needed to prevent the spread of the virus,” he said.
Recall that cases of Omicron have been identified in 20 countries including, Britain, Italy, Germany, Canada, Belgium and Netherlands as countries tightened restrictions on international travel slow its spread.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, on Wednesday announced detection of two cases of Omicron through genomic sequence, linking to two passengers from South Africa. (NAN)
