By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Uganda has confirmed nine cases of Omicron variant of COVID19 in the country.
This came few weeks after South Africa said they had detected this variant in their country and were trying to curb it.
Uganda Minister of Health Dr. Jane Acheng had assured Ugandans that they are very keen on people entering Uganda through all borders and will be able to pick them out in case they are found with the virus.
The Omicron variant is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on 24 November 2021. On 26 November 2021, the WHO designated it as a variant of concern and named it after omicron, the fifteenth letter in the Greek alphabet
The variant has an unusually large number of mutations, several of which are novel and a significant number of which affect the spike protein targeted by most COVID-19 vaccines at the time of discovering the Omicron variant.
This level of variation has led to concerns regarding its transmissibility, immune system evasion, and vaccine resistance. As a result, the variant was quickly designated as being “of concern”, and travel restrictions were introduced by several countries in an attempt to slow its international spread. However, the variant has spread to over 50 countries by 7 December 2021.
