Ministry of Health, on Thursday confirmed detecting the West African nation’s first cases of the so-called Indian variant of the COVID-19 virus in two persons who arrived in the country on 18 April 2021.
“Ministry of Health in response to COVID-19 continues to monitor all new Corona virus variants from the UK, South Africa and of recent the variant identified in India (B.1.617). This is to inform the general public that, the ministry’s surveillance system detected two travellers who arrived in the Gambia on 18 April 2021. The two travellers were tested with Rapid Diagnostic Test (STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test) at the Airport upon arrival and both tested negative.
“As per Ministry of Health protocol, travellers with Rapid Diagnostic Test negative results at Airport are allowed to self-isolate at home. Home isolation is a 14-day self-monitored quarantine with a condition to report for testing if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Recently the two travellers arriving from India fell ill after two weeks and reported to a health facility for testing and were found to be positive. Their samples were sequenced and the results were found to be the new variant identified in India,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, seven of their family members also tested positive but are receiving treatment in isolation.
The ministry added all travellers from India must arrive in The Gambia with a negative PCR test valid for 72hrs. They will be quarantined for a maximum of 72hrs at their own cost to enable sample collection and PCR testing.
“The testing regime at the Airport for travellers coming from all hot spot countries will be intensified,” the statement added, noting that the PCR testing for arriving travellers is free of charge.
