Five individuals with recent travel history to Nigeria have tested positive for the Omicron variant in South Korea, prompting the country to enforce mandatory 10-days quarantine for all passengers arriving from abroad over the next two weeks, regardless of nationality or vaccination status.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency found the first two positive test results from women who travelled to Nigeria and returned to South Korea on November 23.
Three recent cases were a couple who arrived from Nigeria on November 24 and a friend who drove them home from the airport. The couple’s teenage child and the driver’s relative are waiting for their test results to determine whether they were infected.
Choi Seung-ho, a KDCA official, revealed that the couple were fully vaccinated, but their child and the friend who drove them were not. According to Park Young-joon, another KDCA official, the patients weren’t exhibiting serious symptoms aside from mild respiratory problems or muscle pain.
The country had banned foreign travellers arriving from eight southern African nations to fend off omicron, and the curb is said to be soon extended to foreigners coming from Nigeria as well.
Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) itself has recently confirmed their finding on test results that “were positive for this variant in three persons with history of travel to South Africa. These cases were recent arrivals in the country in the past week.”
