New COVID Strains Found in Nigeria, South Africa after UK

By Staff- Agencies

It seems that another new variant of the new coronavirus seems to have emerged in Nigeria, the head of Africa’s disease control body has said, cautioning more investigation was needed.

The discovery could add to new alarm in the pandemic after similar variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that appear to be more contagious were announced in the United Kingdom and South Africa, leading to the swift return of international travel restrictions and other measures just as the world enters a holiday season.

“It’s a separate lineage from the UK and South Africa,” John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Africa CDC], told reporters on Thursday.

Nkengasong said the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in that country – Africa’s most populous – will be analyzing more samples.

“The alert about the apparent new variant was based on two or three genetic sequences,” Nkengasong said.

The variant was found in two patient samples collected on August 3 and on October 9 in Nigeria’s Osun state, according to a working research paper seen by The Associated Press news agency.

The news came as cases surge in Nigeria and South Africa. In the past week, Nigeria reported a 52 percent increase in cases and South Africa a 40 percent increase, Nkengasong said.

“The new variant in South Africa is the predominant one there,” Nkengasong said, as confirmed infections in the country approach one million.

He further mentioned that “While the variant transmits quickly and viral loads are higher, it is not yet clear whether it leads to a more severe disease.”

“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.

South Africa’s health minister late on Wednesday announced an “alarming rate of spread” in that country, with more than 14,000 new cases confirmed in the past day, including more than 400 deaths.

It was the largest single-day increase in cases.

The country has more than 950,000 infections and COVID-19 is “unrelenting”, Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said.