Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng has said the seven passengers who turned out positive with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are in stable condition.

The passengers who arrived in Uganda via Entebbe International airport from various destinations across the globe, are currently in isolation and are being monitored.

The minister however said preliminary findings show that there is no severe illness among the seven and that this shouldn’t be a cause of alarm among the public.

She appealed to the public to continue observing the Standard Operating Procedures meant to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

Omicron variant

Uganda on Tuesday confirmed its first cases of the new Omicron variant.

These were from travellers who arrived in the country from Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Netherlands.

This was contained in a report on the SARS-CoV2 genomic surveillance in Uganda that was carried out on Monday by a group of scientists from the Medical Research Council, Uganda Virus Research Institute, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Ministry of Health.

According to the report, eleven out of the positive PCR samples collected from travellers arriving at Entebbe International airport on November 29, 2021 were sequenced to generate high quality genomes with over 90% coverage.

The Omicron variant has been designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and presents with some deletions and more than 30 mutations in the spike region,” the scientists explained.

The B.1.1.529 variant of SARS-CoV2, also known as Omicron, was first identified by scientists in South Africa in a specimen collected on November 9, 2021 and later from specimens collected between November 12-20 from Gauteng, South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.

Since its initial identification, the variant has spread significantly to all provinces of South Africa. It has also been identified in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia Thailand, Netherlands among others.

Current measures

Health ministry last week instituted a raft of measures to counter the spread of the new variant.

These among them include; management of travellers in and out of the country and carrying out genomic sequencing on all positive samples from travellers as well as contacts and alerts from communities.

Surveillance has also been intensified at points of entry, with particular emphasis at high volume entry points notably Entebbe International Airport, Malaba, Busia, Mutukula, Elegu, Mpondwe and Katuna.

Whereas passengers will be allowed to proceed to their destinations once samples have been collected, those who test positive shall be tracked and put under home based care or health facility based isolation depending on the severity of disease.