Botswana confirms 19 cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant

Botswana Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti confirmed a total of 19 cases of the newly-discovered Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Dikoloti said at a briefing that additional assessments and analyses of other positive COVID-19 samples had revealed 15 more cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday after four foreigners were declared infected.

“We will continue to expand our conduct tracing to ensure that no potential cases go undetected,” Dikoloti said.

Dikoloti further said that the initial cases of the Omicron variant in Botswana were detected after four foreign nationals, who had briefly visited Botswana, tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 11 and the variant was confirmed as the Omicron variant on Nov. 24.

“Such detection should not be confused with Botswana being the country of origin of the strain.’’ (Xinhua/NAN)