The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) has distanced itself from a text message currently making rounds on social media purporting to warn the public about a new and deadlier COVID-Omicron XXB variant.

A media release issued by the office of Executive Director Ben Nangombe on Wednesday said the text message was not issued by the ministry nor any government agency and that as far as the ministry is concerned, the message comes from an unknown and unauthenticated source.

It noted that the MoHSS continues to conduct various COVID-19 surveillance activities country-wide in order to prepare for, detect and respond to any resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

This involves genomic surveillance conducted in laboratories at the University of Namibia and the Namibia Institute of Pathology.

“According to the latest reports from our labs, the Omicron variant continues to be the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant driving COVID-19 cases in Namibia, mainly the sub-lineages BA-4. Additionally, BA-5, another sub-variant of Omicron, continues to be detected at lower frequency in Namibia,” the statement read.

Currently, the global shift on monitoring SARS-CoV-2 variants is focused on BQ.1, which is a sub-lineage of BA-5 as well as XXB, which is a recombinant of BA.2.10.1 BA.2.75 sub-lineages.

These sub-lineages have already been detected in over 30 countries worldwide, including South Africa, it concluded.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency