Egypt monitors updates of COVID’s new transmissible variant ‘Omicron’

CAIRO – 27 November 2021: A new coronavirus variant named “Omicron” was discovered by South African health authorities, and has prompted many countries to react rapidly to its spread, with some banning travel with some southern African states, including Egypt.

The World Health Organization announced Friday it has designated the newly identified coronavirus variant, as a variant of concern, named Omicron.

Dozens of cases that contracted the new variant were found in South Africa, Bostwana, Hong Kong and Belgium.

The official spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, revealed a set of measures had been approved in light of reports releated to the new Coronavirus mutant, which the World Health Organization named “Omicron.”

The Egyptian Ministry of Health "instructed to raise the degree of maximum preparations for quarantine in all air, land and sea ports of Egypt, while raising the level of verification that those coming to the country are free of any possible infections, especially with the new mutation," Dr. Abdel Ghaffar said.

He added that the immediate test known as ID NOW COVID-19 test is still in force at various outlets, and is among the measures taken to confront the new mutant.

He also stressed that the Egyptian authorities are "closely monitoring everything that is published about the Omicron mutant, and are taking resolute and multiple measures to deal with it."

WHO explained that more viruses – including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 – evolve over time. “When a virus replicates or makes copies of itself, it sometimes changes a little bit, which is normal for a virus. These changes are called “mutations”. Any virus with one or more new mutations can be referred to as a “variant” of the original virus,” WHO added.