Senegal reports first case of Covid-19 Omicron variant

The patient is a passenger from another west African country and had recently attended a meeting of 300 people from around the world

A first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been reported in Senegal, in a visitor who attended an international meeting, a research institute said, while another organisation detected two more.

The IRESSEF health body said late Saturday that the patient, a 58-year-old, arrived in Senegal by air from another west African country on November 22.

He had been vaccinated earlier this year with the AstraZeneca and Pfizer shots and had no symptoms by Saturday.

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Although the man has now been quarantined in a medical centre, he stayed at a Dakar hotel and took part in an event attended by 300 people from across the world on November 24 and 25.

Dakar's Pasteur Institute said in a statement on Sunday that it had, separately, discovered two cases of the variant.

Senegal has recorded more than 74,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

Launched in February, the country's vaccination campaign has made slow progress, with 1.3 million of around 17 million people inoculated.

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