 Welcome back to the breakfast and last year in Africa we had straight to a second conversation where we'll be looking at the consent of the Omicron variant and all the COVID-19 infection. Now it's been recorded that Niger has confirmed three cases of the virus. We have a guest who joins us, the professional Professor Sunday Omilebou, who is a professor of medical virology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and a hospital of virology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He's also a consultant, a virologist to the Federal Ministry of Health. Good morning Professor Sunday Omilebou. Thank you for joining us. Good morning Professor Sunday Omilebou. Thank you for joining us. Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you. All right, so let's get your thoughts on the new variants and of course Niger confirming three cases. What do you make of this? The Omicron variant? Thank you very much. So we are just starting naming the variants because many more are still coming because we know that the nature of the virus is to change from time to time. So as long as we have the virus moving from host to host, so the possibility is here that we have new features coming, which we refer to as variants. So Omicron is a normal because it shows that the SARS-CoV-2 changes with different proteins on its surfaces, which are already in existence. All right, Professor Omilebou, so far the NCDC has confirmed them three cases of the three samples that were taken. Now we understand that one of them dates back to sometime in October. But doesn't this suggest that the variant has actually been circulating in Nigeria for almost two months now? And what are some concerns we should actually be aware of? Well, it shows that we've not been doing sequencing as we're supposed to do. Otherwise, we ought to have picked it much earlier. As we are picking, we have about four centers that are getting engaged with genomic surveillance in the country. And I'm sure we are all busy working. Hopefully by now, because most samples are now being processed, and we'll try and see how long we've been having Omicron in our own country. So that will feature in the next one or two weeks. As I'm speaking now, I know in Lagos here we're looking at all those positives, at least in the last two months, in our domain. So the fact that they picked it as high back as October, yeah, it's not impossible. It's not impossible. So many more variants are going to be seen as we move in with more genomic studies. All right, so we still have COVID-19 to deal with. And my question is, should workers who have not been vaccinated be disallowed from the office, as we have actually seen the federal government treating federal workers? I would not support questions as an atheist, but they should be engaged and be educated on the need for them to get vaccinated. The lack of Omicron is actually coming from those that are not vaccinated. So the virus will move into them freely, and when they move, they mutate, they change freely, unlike those that are already taking the job. But they are putting those that take the job into a danger, because when the lack of Omicron order, other variants emerge, their own so-called immunity may not be effective in controlling it. So that's the danger. So we need to cover all of us with the vaccine. If you want to make a huge success of the vaccination, that's my take. So how then do we address the issue of vaccine hesitancy? Because it seemed to be a huge issue, and that's why you find that number of persons who have not been vaccinated, not just as federal workers, but in different spheres of our endeavours. Yes, we have to be very cautious using the word hesitancy, where we don't even have enough vaccines to go around. So there should be a distinction between the two. Nigeria as a country should have enough vaccines available. And then of course, they will now follow you up with health education and jingles. People will come out. But we need not to talk of hesitancy when people are yet to get to centers where they can readily get vaccinated. So let's make sure that we have the vaccines available. Then I know people will move to it. And they need to be persuaded. They need to be educated. They need to be shown data that for them not to be vaccinated, they constitute danger to the rest of the country, so that they will not be taking the vaccine. Because it is true then, that variants get out. And once the variants come in, the immunity of those vaccinated may not cover it. That's the danger. All right, Professor Omilabo. Not so much is really known concerning this new variant, the Omicron. But from what we have had, it's highly transmissible. Since just when, how soon can we really know what to expect as regards the illnesses that this new variant can actually cause? Thank you. Yes, for now we know that it is highly transmissible. It moves faster. But when we are now looking at the symptomatology, the virus seems to be very mild as against what people were expecting, which is normal. Though we are still working on the virus to see further characteristics of the virus. But for now, the virus moves freely. But when we are now talking of the symptoms of the severity, they have not seen that one, especially from the South Africa that first reported it. It is still talking about the virus. You mentioned that we seem to be having some sort of sequencing. That's the word, the user challenges. Since we could not really detect, for example, that was taken sometime in October, we could not really know that time the Omicron has been with us for a while. What other public health challenges that we should be worried about? Professor Milla, are you still there? All right, we'll try and reconnect with Professor Milla. But then it is really, really something to worry about. The NCDC came out yesterday and said that we have three cases of this particular variant, the Omicron. But on further investigation, it was revealed that one of the samples was taken sometime in October, meaning that for over two months, this new virus has actually been with us as a nation. You also would want to agree with me that as much as we commend the effort of the federal government and all stakeholders in handling this virus, the COVID-19, we haven't really been really great at it. I mean, if you look at our response to it, number one, we're constantly talking about the issue of not having enough vaccines. Now, do you remember the conversation that we had here on this platform when we talked about the Omicron and the fact that the best way to it, and he, the professor has also mentioned this morning that the way out of it is to ensure that everyone is vaccinated. So the point is, do we have enough vaccine to vaccine? We're looking at a population of over 211 million persons, according to the latest data from the United Nations. So do we have enough vaccine to go around, to vaccinate everyone, to protect? Because if you look at the pattern in which, according to research and reports, how this virus actually works, it shows that for those who have not been vaccinated, the standard higher risk of contracting this virus, and when it gets in, it becomes more deadly and all of that. But it's not that it cannot be curtailed. So the point now is, would be, what are the policy measures that we have to ensure that all of this doesn't happen? I'm hoping that we get more response as soon as we connect with him. Now, we have seen countries and acting travel bans, and the question is, how effective is this travel ban to be over time? Yes, so travel bans over the years, I mean, especially with COVID-19 and other variants that we've experienced, has it been very effective? You also want to talk about there's also another pattern. You talk about contact tracing, how far have we fed with all of that? Yes, if they're all effective, it is very effective. So in our response, the fact that we still, do we have what it takes for us to, you know, dictate the virus? Do we have to send the samples to other countries to get, you know, the results? So all of this are some of the questions that we need to answer. But, you know, like everyone has stated that with the outbreak of COVID-19, when it came through in 2019, one would think that we would have actually been able to put, you know, the health infrastructure in Nigeria in place would have actually had policies, even with the budget and all of that. But he constantly just shows that we're not ready and we're not really prepared, you know, for all this. Let's pose the questions now to Professor Omilabu. Just before we left off, we're talking about some concerns that we have in the space of the, you know, nations and public health. You talked about not enough, you know, inequity when it comes to vaccinations across the world. But then again, when you were answering the question of Nigeria, having had to be leaving with this variant for the past two months, you talked about sequencing and other challenges. And I posed the question to you just before we went on that break, about what other concerns do we have to ensure that at the public health level, we actually do our best to ensure that Nigerians are actually secure? I think we have lost him yet again. So we need to try and get the professor back online, because these are the pertinent questions that he needs to address. Because we seem to, you know, be talking about the virus. We seem to be talking about people being hesitant about it. And yet we don't even have enough vaccine to go across the country. And again, the federal government is barring its workers from, you know, going to work. And, you know, it's actually a novel, at this point, I don't know if we should say COVID-19 is still a novel virus or the fact that we have new, you know, the new variant that we have, because we still have not understood, we're still yet to understand the patterns and the sequencing of how these virus actually get to work. And that's why, you know, research will continue to go until, would continue until we're able to have a grip over all of this. Now, but best practice, I mean, you know, all of the procedures have been put out, global procedures to actually respect would include washing your hand. This is just hygiene, constant washing your hand, be paranoid with washing your hands all the time. Yes, have your sanitizers with you. And then, you know, the issue of wearing of your nose mags. Now, another major concern for a lot of people is that, I mean, we're at the festive period again. And, you know, there's a lot of conception, misconception, and all of that. But really, I'm thinking that we constantly stick with all of those procedures of washing the hands, maintaining that hygiene, and constantly wearing the nose mags, and, you know, respect the social distancing as much as we can, then get the vaccination. We also should be thinking at this point in time, we should have been considering, as, you know, the giant of Africa having, you know, the booster shot. But there's no way you're going to talk about the booster shot if you haven't, if you've not even gotten, you know, a lot of patients are yet to be vaccinated, taking the first dose and not to even talk about the second dose. So, but the fact that you're constantly dependent, you know, on the, when it's dependent on the international community and other parts of the world, you know, to get the vaccine is actually very worrying. And it's a big issue. So at this point in time, it still brings us back to the issue of saying, do we have what it takes? Are we putting policies in place at this point in time to ensure that we can handle our issues? Because we will blame them. And when, you know, nations come together, they would always, you know, think about their interests. The United States would want to vaccinate our own citizens and every other person would want to take care of theirs before they begin to look at, you know, the third world country. All right. So Professor Omidabi, I trust we have you right now. We have been bantering concern in this particular variant. I just wanted to get your thoughts as we wrap up on this session, you know, the challenge, the consent that we had before we went of us, asking you what should we be focusing on our nations and public health, you know, approach? Yeah, thank you. You have been mentioning some of those options before us. I continued enjoying this discussion while the network pushed me away. Actually, public health should be the one driving the, we need to take the message to the nooks and crannies of the country that there is COVID. COVID is still very much around. And of course, the best option is for us not to even get it, not to get the virus or the disease is the one that is most efficacious. So you wouldn't need to manage it if you don't have it. So people should try as much as possible to keep to all those measures put up by the presidential committee, the face mask to be wearing it when going into the public, the issue of social distancing, then of course, and washing frequently. And of course, we should not embark on any trip to anywhere we feel that it's going to cause a crowd. So once we move away from all these places, we'll be running away from the virus. It's better not to have the virus than to be managing the disease. So that's the best way out of it. And then of course, as a country, we need to be monitoring the variant circulating in the environment. It's very, very important. We need to be monitoring the circulating stream in our environment. And then of course, people need more of health education. Health education, they need to let them know that COVID-19 is around. And people should try as much as possible to prevent themselves from contracting it. That's the best solution to it. Just before we cost it down now, do you think that Nigeria should then add travel bans, just as you have other countries? Or should we be looking at locking down? There is no cost for that right away if because of Omicron. There's no cost for either travel ban or lockdown. Because from what we see, like I said earlier on, there will be many more variants coming. All we need to do is to be monitoring them. Let's know those ones that will be more dangerous in terms of hospitalization. Now we are talking of Omicron. They've not been hospitalized in South Africa where they've had hundreds of cases. So as to tell us that all we need to do is keep monitoring our environment to make sure that we're taking a close monitor, checking all the strains circulating in the environment. That's all we need to do. We don't need to lock down. We don't need to put a travel ban. Indeed, we don't need to put a travel ban, as the professor has suggested, and that we need to just walk on our monitoring to ensure that we know just where we are headed. We must say very big thank you to you, Professor Sundi Omilabo, a virologist, that thanks for your input and your thoughts on this particular discuss. Thank you very much. It's my pleasure. Thank you. Well, that's the much we can take at this point in time. We do appreciate you for being part of the conversation and following the show 7 a.m. up until this time. We'll definitely come through tomorrow with the Friday edition. In case you missed out on any part of the conversation, it's all right to follow our social media, Facebook and Instagram. It's at Plastivia Africa and the new tip where Plastivia Africa live fire. I am Mesa Boko, have a great morning. And I'm Justin, acting as thanks for being a part of the show. Join us and the news talk of the hour by the hour.