Kenya Detects First 3 Cases of Omicron Variant

Kenya has detected its first three cases of the Omicron variant, the country’s health minister Mutahi Kagwe announced on Wednesday.

“We have at least three cases so far, and have a lot of other samples that we are sequencing,” Kagwe told reporters in Mombasa.

He added that the Omicron was detected among travelers, two Kenyan and one South African, at airports but did not disclose when and where in Kenya the cases were detected.

Kagwe said those hospitalized with coronavirus in Kenya were still suffering from the Delta variant and noted cases of Omicron were expected to quickly rise.

“It is just a matter of time before Omicron becomes the dominant variant,” he added.

The East African country has seen a surge in coronavirus infections in recent days after a lull lasting several months.

The health ministry revealed Tuesday that the number of tests returning positive results stood at 11.5%, a roughly ten-fold rise on a week earlier.

Kagwe ruled out taking “knee-jerk reactions” in response to the detection and pointed out that any measures taken would be based on science, adding: “From where we sit, variants will come and variants will go. The decisions we make as a government in order to protect our people must also be measured and calculated,”.

The WHO warned Tuesday that the variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act swiftly to rein in transmission and protect their health systems.

Since the variant was first detected last month, it has been reported in 77 countries, according to the WHO.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which accounts for the bulk of the world’s coronavirus cases.

Kenya has fully vaccinated only 3.27 million people, or 12% of the adult population, according to official figures.

The government hoped to vaccinate 10 million people by Christmas, and 27 million by the end of 2022.

This week, the high court in Nairobi issued a government order to prevent unvaccinated Kenyans from accessing services and entering public places such as national parks, bars, and restaurants.

In total, the country has recorded 256,815 infections, of which 5,349 have been fatal.