Kathmandu, Dec 1 (PTI) Nepal on Wednesday asked its citizens not to travel abroad until it is absolutely necessary amid growing concern over the spread of the new omicron variant.

The World Health Organisation warned Monday that the global risk from the omicron variant is “very high” based on early evidence, saying it could lead to surges with “severe consequences”.

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Nepal's Health Ministry has urged its citizens not to consider travelling abroad until it was absolutely necessary. The call was made in the wake of the identification and spread of the 'Omicron' variant of COVID-19 in some countries lately.

Urging all Nepalis to observe precaution against COVID-19, the Ministry said that the 'Omicron' variant has not been detected in Nepal so far.

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The monitoring and testing of this new variant have been expanded, said Dr Samir Kumar Adhikar, joint spokesperson at the Ministry.

Issuing a press statement here on Wednesday, Dr Adhikari said that the new variant is very contagious and it would infect people of any age group.

The Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first detected in African countries a few days ago and has been expanding rapidly across South Africa and Asia lately. The WHO has declared the new variant as the 'universal variant of concern'.

The Ministry has also urged the people to get vaccinated against Coronavirus infection as vaccination would provide protection against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Nepal on Wednesday recorded 316 new cases of COVID-19 along with 259 recoveries and three deaths, according to the latest information released by the Ministry of Health. There are currently 7,111 active cases of COVID-19 across the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)