Botswana Government Says Omicron First Found in Fully Vaccinated Diplomats From An Undisclosed Country

[sharon sanders]

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[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/w...on-europe.html

Botswana’s leader says foreign diplomats who traveled from Europe were among the first known Omicron cases.
By Lynsey Chutel
Dec. 3, 2021, 10:54 a.m. ET

Some of the first cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus to be detected in Botswana — which were among the first known in the world — were in foreign diplomats who had traveled to the country from Europe, the country’s president said.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi told CNN on Thursday that four diplomats who tested positive for the coronavirus on Nov. 11, and who were later found to be carrying the new variant, “came from a number of countries.” He added: “Yes, some had been to Europe, and some had been elsewhere.” He did not offer more details.

Until now, Botswana had not disclosed the nationalities or other details of the four diplomats, with officials saying that they wanted to avoid stigmatizing other nations. The president’s comments highlight that scientists still cannot say with certainty where the variant originated...

[sharon sanders]

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[Emily]

Ghana might have announced an Omicron case. I'm not sure from this one article. They are instituting a vaxpass system.

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/EPI-explains-how-enforcement-on-no-vaccination-no-access-to-restaurants-others-will-work-1415101

General News of Thursday, 2 December 2021
Disclaimer
Source: happyghana.com
EPI explains how enforcement on no vaccination, no access to restaurants, others will work

[sharon sanders]

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[Emily]

https://qz.com/africa/2096535/new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams-visits-ghana-despite-omicron-scare/

Omicron isn’t stopping New York’s next mayor from his spiritual visit to Ghana
By Alexander Onukwue West Africa correspondent
Published 3 hours ago

New York City’s new mayor Eric Adams is going ahead with a planned visit to Ghana this week, despite global concerns about the severity of the omicron variant of covid-19 and the Africa-focused travel bans it has—according to some health professionals and world leaders—prematurely triggered.
Adams will begin his first term as mayor on Jan. 1. But before then, he wants to spend a week with his family in the west African country, to pray and reflect on history, and will return to the US on Dec. 8.
“I made a promise to myself that I would visit Ghana following the 400-year anniversary of slavery in America and the election, to show how far we have come and remember how far we still must go,” Adams said, per the New York Post. That anniversary was in 2019, when Ghana’s tourism-boosting ‘Year of Return’ invited people of African descent to visit and live in the country...

[sharon sanders]

bump this

[Emily]

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/COVID-19-No-cases-of-Omicron-variant-in-Ghana-GHS-1412086

Health News of Monday, 29 November 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com
COVID-19: No cases of Omicron variant in Ghana - GHS

[Emily]

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Omicron-variant-was-detected-in-4-Ghanaians-MP-1411909

General News of Monday, 29 November 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com
Botswana's Omicron variant was 'detected in 4 diplomats of Ghanaian origin' - Ex-MP alleges

[sharon sanders]

bump this

[Shiloh]

Source: https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/botswana...175613973.html


Botswana says 15 more cases of Omicron variant detected in country
Brian Benza
Sun., November 28, 2021, 12:56 p.m.
ReutersReuters

GABORONE (Reuters) - Botswana's health minister Edwin Dikoloti said on Sunday the country had detected 15 more cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, adding to the four confirmed cases it declared on Friday.

The minister applauded its scientists for detecting the new variant in the country early, but stressed it did not emerge in Botswana as the four cases were found in people who travelled to the country on a diplomatic mission.

He declined to comment on the nationalities of the four people saying the country "would not want to add to the seeming trend where the variant is stigmatised".

Botswana was early among what are now 11 countries so far reporting cases of the variant, which was identified last week by South Africa's National Institute of Communicable Diseases and later designated "of concern" by the World Health Organization...

[Emily]

https://twitter.com/BWGovernment/sta...74240130785280

Botswana Government @BWGovernment
MEDIA RELEASE #LetsDefeatCOVID19Together #AReFenyengCOVID19Mmogo

8:16 AM · Nov 25, 2021·Twitter for Android
https://twitter.com/BWGovernment/sta...84386912501764

Botswana Government
@BWGovernment

STATEMENT ON THE NEW COVID-19 VARIANT


4:48 AM · Nov 26, 2021·Twitter for Android

[Emily]

https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/11/26/botswana-vaccinated-diplomats.html

By Neil Campbell ｜ November 26, 2021
Botswana has said that the emerging B.1.1.529 variant, also known as Omicron, of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first detected in four fully vaccinated diplomats from an undisclosed country.

In a media release published by the country’s COVID-19 Task Force on the Government of Botswana’s verified Twitter account on Nov. 25, the state noted that the strain was first discovered on Nov. 22 “among travellers who tested SARS-COV-2 positive on routine pre-travel testing.”..