Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan Ministry of Health has confirmed the presence of new Omicron variant in the country. Speaking to the media yesterday, the Director General for Preventive health services, COVID-19 incident manager in the Ministry of Health Dr. John Pasquale Rumunu said that they have received an initial report that indicated the omicron linage presence in south Sudan and seems to be dominating the sample sent in December 2021.
“In our previous updates, we said that the current trend of transmission behaves like omicron but we were waiting for confirmation, now we have confirmed it”, Dr. Rumunu said.
He revealed that they have sent eighty one samples to be tested in Uganda and the preliminary statement in the report indicated that most of the samples showed omicron linage presence without clear statistical figure of the persons infected.
“Based on the number we sent, we will get the percentage and compare with the number we have in the period of the resurgence to give us the rough idea on how many omicron cases we have. As you know, we are not sending all the samples that were tested positive rather the samples of what we have”, he said.
He urged people to continue implementing the effective public health measures to reduce COVID-19 circulation overall by avoiding crowded places, wearing a well-fitting face masks, washing hands with clean water and soap and keeping social distance. He however urged the people to vaccinate against COVID-19 including health workers and older persons.
Meanwhile the world health organization’s incident manager for COVID-19, Sacha Bootsma said that at the moment, both Delta and Omicron variant are the twin threats around the globe spiking hospitalization and death.
“Omicron is moving rapidly. In addition to the vaccination, the public health social measures are also needed to stop the rate of infection and protect the health workers and system to open up society and to keep children in school”, she said.
Sacha added that the World Health organization has recently issued updated guidance for health workers recommending the use of respirators, a medical mask or personal protective equipment.
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