Kenya detects 3 cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant

Kenya's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday it has detected three cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country.

The cases were detected among travellers at the country's airports, said Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Health.

"We have detected Omicron among travellers and it's just a matter of time before it becomes the dominant variant across the globe," he told a consultative meeting in the coastal city of Mombasa. "I have no doubt about it."

"Variants will come and go, but this is not the time for knee jerk reactions. The decision of the ministry of health must be on the basis of science and evidence and not emotions. We are still observing the situation," Kagwe said.

Africa is being hit by the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic driven by the Omicron variant, after recording the fastest weekly surge in new cases since May 2020, said an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday.

"Africa is now officially in the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is partly due to the Omicron variant," WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told an end-of-year press conference in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, where the WHO Regional Office for Africa is based.

Africa has seen a rise of 83 per cent in new COVID-19 cases for the week ending Dec. 12, driven by the Delta and the Omicron variants, which is the fastest surge recorded since May 2020, she said. (ANI/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )