A new variant of the coronavirus has been discovered in Nigeria, according to the head of Africa’s Centre for Disease Control.
Dr John Nkengasong said on Thursday that more investigation is taking place on this latest variant of the virus.
Dr John Nkengasong said that the new variant is “a separate lineage from the UK and South Africa.”
He said the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria will be analyzing more samples.
“Give us some time… it’s still very early,” he said.
The variant was found in two patient samples collected on Aug. 3 and on Oct. 9 in Nigeria’s Osun state.
There have been similar variants discoveries in Britain and South Africa, causing international travel restrictions.
Nkengasong said that the new variant found in South Africa accounted for the “vast majority of the second wave” in the country.
“We believe this mutation will not have an effect” on the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to the continent, he said of the South Africa variant.
Flights from South Africa have been banned by five countries following news of the discovery of a new variant of coronavirus which has sparked high cases.
Germany, Turkey, Israel, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia are among the countries that have banned flights from South Africa.
Germany was one of the first nations to announce the ban with officials justifying it.
Source: Africafeeds.com
