Detecting a possible new variant of the coronavirus in Nigeria | the Chronicle

Another new coronavirus mutation appears to have emerged in Nigeria, reported this Thursday the highest health authority of the African Union (AU), while specifying that more research is still needed to determine if this explains an increase in infections.

The discovery could raise the level of global alarm after similar variants are detected in the UK and South Africa, causing a return to travel restrictions and lockouts as the world prepares for the holidays.

“It’s a different strain from UK and South Africa”the director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters, John Nkengasong.

He added that Nigeria’s CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease Genome in that country, the continent’s most populous, will analyze the samples.

” Give us a little time, it’s still too early “he said, quoted by the BBC network.

The alert on a possible new mutation is based on two or three genetic sequenceshe explained, but that and South Africa’s announcement last week was enough for the Africa CDC to call a meeting this week.

The variant was detected in samples from two patients collected on August 3 and 9 in the southwestern Nigerian state (province) of Osun, local newspapers reported.

Unlike the British strain, “We have not seen such rapid growth of the variant in Nigeria and we have no evidence that the P681H mutation contributes to increased transmission of the virus in Nigeria.”Nkengasong said.

The news comes amid an increase in infections in parts of the continent of 1.3 billion people.

South Africa’s new variant is now predominant in that country, Nkengasong said, as the southern nation approaches one million cases of coronavirus.

Although the variant is transmitted faster and with higher viral loads, there is still no conclusive evidence that it causes more severe cases of the disease, he added.

“We believe this mutation will have no effect” in vaccination campaigns on the continentthe official said of the South African variant.

The South African Department of Health reported on Wednesday a “alarming transmission rate” in the country, where more than 14,000 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, including more than 400 deaths.

The country has more than 950,000 infections and the Covid-19 is “relentless”, said the Minister of Health, Zwelini Mkhize.

Coronavirus in Africa

The African continent has already over 2.5 million confirmed infections, 3.3% of global cases, but infections in Africa increased by 10.9% in the last four weeks, Nkengasong said.

In Nigeria, the increase during this period was 52%, while in South Africa it was around 40%, he said.