A new variant of COVID-19 appears in Nigeria

Nairobi, Kenya – Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have appeared in Nigeria, the top public health official in Africa said on Thursday, although more research is needed.

“It is a separate line from Britain and South Africa,” the director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. The CDC of Nigeria and the African Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease Genomes in this country – the most populous in Africa – will analyze more samples.

“Give us some time“It’s still very early,” he said.

The alert on the possible new variant is due to two of three genetic sequences, he said, although this and the alert declared in South Africa late last week had prompted an emergency meeting of the African CDC this week.

Contagions are rising in parts of the continent.

The new variant in South Africa is now the predominant one in that country, Nkengasong said, and the infections confirmed there are approaching one million patients. Although the variant is transmitted rapidly and has a high viral load, it is still unclear whether it causes a more serious illness, he indicated.

“We believe this mutation will have no effect” on the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines on the continent, he said of the South African variant.

South Africa’s health minister said Wednesday night that there had been an “alarming rate of spread” of viruses in the territory, with more than 14,000 new cases confirmed in the last day, including more than 400 deaths. The country has added more than 950,000 cases and the disease does not remit, Zwelini Mkhize said in a statement.

More than 2.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Africa, or 3.3% of cases worldwide. Contagions across the continent have risen 10.9% in the past four weeks, Nkengasong said, including an increase of 52% in Nigeria and 40% in South Africa.