NCDC calls for calm as another COVID-19 variant surfaces in Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Monday said a new variant of COVID-19 had been detected in Nigeria and 15 other countries.

The new strain, B.1.2.5 which is different from the highly infectious B.1.1.7 has, however, not been described as a variant of concern.

Disclosing this at the press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the NCDC Director-General, Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu, said  researchers and scientists were still working hard to understand if this variant had any effect on the virus transmissibility, immunity, as well as diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.

He stated, “There is a new variant, the B.1.2.5 which we have begun to detect in Nigeria and 15 other countries.  It is important to note that this variant has not been described as a variant of concern yet.

“Researchers and scientists are still working hard to understand if this variant has any effect on the virus transmissibility, immunity, as well as diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.

“This is because the variant has some similar mutations with the B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1 variants first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, respectively.”

Iheakwazu stated that the NCDC was  scaling up its  sequencing capacity to have a better understanding of the burden of variants of concern in the country.

According to him, the risk of virus mutation was higher when there is high transmission of the virus.

The DG said the  September and October 2020 household prevalence surveys carried out in Lagos, Enugu, Nasarawa and Gombe States revealed the level of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among the population.

-Punch