Namibia confirms 1st cases of Delta variant

Windhoek, July 6 Namibia's Health Ministry announced that the latest genome sequencing exercises covering the months of May and June have revealed that in 17 out of 18 samples tested, the Delta Covid-19 variant was identified.

In a statement on Monday, the Ministry's executive director Ben Nangombe said the samples were obtained from positive Covid-19 cases from the central Khomas region, reports Xinhua news agency.

"This is the first report on the detection of the Delta variant in Namibia," he said.

Nangombe added that more genomic sequencing activities will be carried out in the coming weeks to determine the extent to which the variant may be present in the rest of the country.

Namibia currently accounts for 95,703 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,649 deaths.

At least 141,209 vaccine doses against the virus has been administered so far.