Nigerian scientists have confirmed the country’s first Omicron virus variant cases, with at least one case occurring in October. Tests confirmed two cases of the variant among travelers from South Africa who arrived in Nigeria in the last week, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said in a statement. Retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among other travelers also identified the variant among samples collected in October, officials said. No other samples anywhere in the world had been confirmed to date back to October. Botswana and South Africa were the only African countries to confirm Omicron cases before Wednesday when Nigeria and Ghana announced detected cases. Omicron is a variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. Canada’s first detected cases were both among individuals who had recently traveled from Nigeria. South African scientists identified the variant initially, reporting it on Nov. 24 to the World Health Organization, …