Senegal registered its first three cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Friday, 3 December 2021. According to a statement released on Saturday evening by the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (Iressef), the first case of the Omicron variant was detected in a 58-year-old man who arrived in Senegal on 22 November by a flight from a country in the sub-region. A first case that already sets psychosis in populations that think of the burden of a return of restrictive measures such as the compulsory wearing of masks, the prohibition of gatherings and the freezing of economic activities.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has entered Senegal. This is the information provided by the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (Iressef) on Friday, November 3, 2021. The man in question, the first carrier of the new virus in the country, “stayed in Dakar in a hotel and participated in a demonstration that brought together nearly 300 people of several nationalities. The event took place from 24 to 25 November,’ said the institute’s statement.
The research institute has taken all necessary measures by quarantining the man carrying the variant called Omicron. It was followed and treated until healing in less than 48 hours. “As of Saturday, December 4, it has no symptoms,” the institute added.
However, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar announced on Sunday, December 6, 2021, that it had identified two other cases of infection with the Omicron variant. This is exactly a “28-year-old man taken on 23 November in Dakar and leaving for a country in West Africa. The other is a 29-year-old woman who was staying at a hotel in Dakar and travelling to southern Africa,” the statement says.
The health authorities have expressed their concern about this new discovery, especially since the Senegalese have not responded to the call for vaccination launched by the Ministry of Health and Social Action (MSAS) since February 2021. Out of an estimated total population of about 17 million, only 1,328,633 people have been vaccinated.
Senegal joins Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana and South Africa, where this variant was discovered at the end of November 2021.
Senegal has recorded a total of 74,024 cases of Covid-19 and 1,186 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
