After confirming two cases of finding two cases of of Omicron, a new variant of COVID-19 on Monday, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has directed all concerned health officials to take further precautionary measures.

Dr. Samir Kumar Adhikari, spokesperson at the MoHP, informed that the Omicron variant was detected in two people who had returned from South Africa.

Organizing a press meet on Monday, Dr. Adhikari said that the Omicron variant was seen in two swab samples of those who had returned from Africa during the whole genome sequencing.

"A 66-year-old foreign national and a 71-year-old man who had come in contact with the former were found infected with Omicron variant," said the MoHP, adding that both the infected people had received full dose of COVID-19 vaccine and had entered Nepal with negative RT-PCR test report.

Dr. Adhikari further said that no severe symptoms of coronavirus were seen in the patients. The Health Ministry also said that the ministry had carried out contact tracing of everyone who had come in direct contact with the infected people.