Gaza, Dec 27 : The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced that it has recorded the first case of the Omicron Covid variant in the besieged costal enclave. Ministry official Majdi Dhair made the announcement at a press conference at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. He said the detection of the case revealed that the Omicron variant was "present and widespread in the society". The Gaza Strip "is on the verge of a difficult stage and a powerful fourth wave, as expected", he added. Dhair urged rapid preparation to confront the virus's fourth wave and get out of it with minimum losses. According to the official, to deal with any unsustainable increase in the number of infection cases, the Ministry has boosted its preparedness by providing more skilled medical personnel and increasing the number of beds available. However, the Ministry needs laboratory equipment "to facilitate the greatest number of tests to check coronavirus", he said. Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Gaza, with a population of 2.2 million people, has registered 189,837 Covid-19 infections and 1,691 deaths. /IANS