The Minister of Health, Armindo Tiago, announced on Tuesday that Mozambique has detected new covid-19 infections, two of which may be of the omicron variant. The detection of these two suspected cases was possible following the archive testing of positive samples from the month of November.

The official further explained that there is a probability that the two suspected cases are of the omicron variant, due to the fact that Mozambique borders countries where several cases of the new mutation have already been identified.

The holder of the health portfolio said that the country has registered, in the last 24 hours, 20 cases positive for covid-19, without any hospital discharge. In contrast, one patient was hospitalized, and it is not known whether the case is related to the omicron variant.

All epidemiological monitoring indicators place the country at Level 1 of the pandemic, considered the lowest level of restrictive measures.

On that occasion, Armindo Tiago referred that the authorities will continue to bet on the covid-19 prevention measures recommended by the World Health Organization.

In this sense, the minister assured that there is no reason to panic, because the country registers low levels of new infections, and there is still no scientific evidence of increased potential for transmission of the omicron variant.

The number of deaths in Mozambique remains at 1,941 and the cumulative number of cases since the start of the pandemic is 151,548.

The health minister reiterated that the containment measures currently in place will be adjusted according to the evolution of the epidemiological situation in our country.

Initially the origin of the omicron variant was attributed to South Africa, but yesterday, the Netherlands said that the mutation had already been identified in its territory on November 19 of this year.