The Minister of Public Health announces the rigorous measures taken by the government against the new variant, in a press release published on November 29, 2021.
After the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants, here comes the new Omicron variant. Although it has not yet been detected in Cameroon according to the Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie, says that all people who have traveled to Southern Africa in the last 14 days and have a positive test result "may be considered as possible cases of contamination with the new Omicron variant," said the Minsanté, in a statement published on November 29, 2021.
According to the site L'urgenceiste.com which publishes this information, if these people tested positive for Covid-19 are not carriers of the other variants (alpha, beta, gamma, delta), they will be declared carriers of said Omicron variant discovered in South Africa on November 25.
According to Misanté, border surveillance and tracing measures have been strengthened. This, in order to"identify as early as possible the contaminated cases, in order to quarantine all contact persons". It is therefore a question for anyone who arrives in the country not only to be provided with a negative PCR test result dating back less than 48 hours, but also and above all, to undergo a rapid screening test.
In the meantime, "the sequencing of samples for this variant in our country is being organized in order to have a diagnosis as soon as possible". And pending the results of this sequencing, "the technical services concerned have been instructed to strengthen the measures of identification and isolation of possible cases and their contacts at risk," says Manaouda Malachie. He also stresses that vaccination "remains the most effective way to block the road to this pandemic".