Sudan Health Ministry: ‘No cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant in the country’

The Sudanese Ministry of Health reported yesterday that the country is free of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.

In a press conference yesterday, newly appointed Health Ministry’s Undersecretary Haisam Ibrahim denied the presence of Omicron cases registered in Sudan.

He spoke about the importance of being vaccinated and confirmed that the four types of vaccines available in the country are “equally effective and safe”, saying that there are four million doses currently available, while another six million doses are expected to arrive soon.

Ibrahim emphasised the need to expedite vaccinating Sudanese over 18 years old and the issuance of a vaccination certificate. Only three percent of the Sudanese has been vaccinated against COVID-19, while the target is 20 per cent of the population. Therefore there is “a tendency to compel vaccination” among medical experts, he said, especially since infection rates have reached seven per cent.

The Undersecretary said he expects more lockdowns in parts of the country with these “dangerous spread rates”. During the past two weeks, White Nile state and El Gedaref have temporarily closed schools to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Sudan was the first country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to receive vaccines via the international COVAX Facility coalition. The first batch of 828,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived at Khartoum with UNICEF support at the beginning of March.

The Health Ministry announced on Monday that 11 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the country. Two patients died.

According to a report published by the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team in December last year, an estimated two per cent of all COVID-19 deaths are recorded in Sudan.