Moroccan health authorities said they ramped up gene sequencing monitoring to track the possible appearance of the Omicron variant in the Moroccan population.
The first cases of the variant are popping up across the world after it was first detected in South Africa in late November, with Saudi Arabia saying the first case it tracked arrived from North Africa, without specifying the country.
“We are intensifying genetic monitoring and vigilance to know what will appear in the coming days,” said Said Mutawakil, member of the Scientific Committee against Covid-19.
He said current genetic tracking shows Delta as the predominant strain of the virus in the country.
As of yet, the country has not announced a case of the Omicron but closed its entire airspace for two weeks to keep up with the low rate of Covid cases that range around a daily 100 cases.
The South African doctor who first raised the alarm on the Omicron variant said the symptoms she observed in patients are “unusual but mild.”
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association based her observations on a small number of cases she treated. The variant may be a lot more dangerous than initially observed.
The World Health Organization said it will take weeks to understand how the variant may affect patients and vaccines.
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