In Nigeria, scientists identify new strain of Covid-19

A Nigerian health worker cleans a nasal swab bag on April 23, 2020 in Lagos.

AP - Sunday Alamba

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Studies are underway to clarify the properties of this variant of the coronavirus.

The discovery comes as the country was hit hard by the epidemic in December.

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This variant was observed in two patients, on August 3 and October 9, during analyzes carried out on 200 samples by scientists from Acegid, the African center of excellence for genomic research and infectious diseases.

According to this research center, the two patients present genetic mutations.

This discovery still has a lot of gray areas.

The only certainty is that this new variant of the coronavirus is different from that observed in the United Kingdom, as explained by Professor Christian Happi, the director of Acegid, at the origin of the genetic sequencing of this variant in Nigeria: “ 

We think that this variant has most likely transferred to Nigeria.

It is different from the strain found in South Africa and the UK.

But she shares two mutations with the strain that appeared in the United Kingdom.

We have not analyzed recent samples, we do not know to what extent other patients are affected by this new strain

.

"

This biologist remains cautious: for the moment, no link has been established between these discoveries and

the acceleration of contamination in recent weeks in Nigeria

.

More research is underway to better understand the properties of this mutation and to find out if other patients have been affected.

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