Egypt announces first 3 Omicron cases

The first three cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Egypt were announced on Friday evening by the Health Ministry, three weeks after the World Health Organization reported the discovery of the new strain. 

All three cases were detected among 26 Egyptians who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Cairo from South Africa, a source at the Health Ministry told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

Testing is carried out on passengers arriving from certain countries, and foreign nationals sent back to their respective countries if they test positive for COVID-19.

According to the Health Ministry source, the ministry’s central laboratories are still conducting genetic sequencing tests for the remaining batch of samples from travelers who were on the same flight as the three who tested positive for Omicron, to determine whether there are any more cases of the new variant, noting that these tests can take up to two weeks to yield results.

The source said that the three Omicron-carrying patients, all of whom had been vaccinated, are currently in stable condition and under observation in a quarantined room at the Abbasseya Fever Hospital.

Omicron, a new and likely highly contagious variant of COVID-19, was first recorded in November in South Africa and has spread quickly to over 80 countries so far. It is unclear as of yet whether Omicron is as severe as earlier variants such as Delta.

Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and France have recently taken additional lockdown measures to try and curb its spread.

The remaining 23 COVID-19 patients, who were tested upon arrival at Cairo International Airport an unspecified number of days ago, are in an adjacent room at the hospital, the source said. 

“Among those arriving who test positive, Egyptians are taken to the fever hospital, and foreigners are sent back aboard the same flight they arrived on,” said a source close to the epidemiological tracking system, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

The source said that all positive COVID-19 samples of travelers, including non-Egyptians, are sent to the ministry’s central laboratories to determine whether they are of the Omicron variant.

Even with tracking in place, however, the variant could still be carried into Egypt by any traveler, said the source, adding that an asymptomatic traveler from a country where the variant has not been officially detected could potentially be carrying the virus. Similarly, a source working in the Health Ministry’s central labs had told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity in November that it was impossible to be certain that cases of the Omicron variant had not already entered the country.