According to the ministry, the presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed Sunday night during gene sequencing.
Kathmandu:
Nepal on Monday confirmed the presence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in two people, including a foreign national, in the country.
Deputy Health Ministry spokesman Samir Adhikari said at a press conference that two individuals – a 71-year-old Nepalese and a 66-year-old foreigner – had been found to have contracted the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The foreign man had come to Kathmandu from South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first discovered, he said.
The Nepalese national, who had been in close contact with this person, began experiencing similar symptoms on November 23 and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, the spokesman said.
According to the ministry, the presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed Sunday night during genetic sequencing of two samples at the National Public Health Laboratory in Teku.
News site MyRepublica reported that this foreigner entered Nepal on November 19.
The foreign visitor presented a negative PCR report recently upon arrival and was fully vaccinated, the Himalayan Times reported.
The Ministry of Health said that up to 66 samples of people who had been in contact with these two individuals were tested, but the results were negative.
Both infected people are isolated and recovering.
So far, Nepal has reported 822,592 cases of coronavirus and 11,541 deaths from the disease.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
