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Africa CDC says another new COVID strain has been discovered in Nigeria

Friday, December 25, 2020 at 8:15 AM by Kess Ewubare

- The Africa CDC has reacted to a new type of coronavirus discovered in Nigeria

- The agency disclosed the dates and the actual location where the disease was detected

- John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa CDC spoke about what is been done over the new findings

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Another new variant of the coronavirus different from other discovered types of the disease appears to have been detected in Nigeria.

According to Al Jazeera, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), made the disclosure on Thursday, December 24.

Africa CDC says another new COVID strain has been discovered in Nigeria — Officials of the NCDC conducting tests in a laboratory. Photo: NCDC
Source: Facebook

John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa CDC, said the new variant is not similar to the type discovered in the UK and South Africa.

He stated that further analyses of the samples were being conducted by the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases to learn more about the new virus.

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The UK Independent reported that Nkengasong said the alert about the apparent new COVID-19 type was based on two or three genetic sequences.

The official stated that the variant was found in two patient samples collected on August 3 and on October 9 in Osun state, Nigeria.

He however stated that more time was needed to learn about the new disease.

The official said:

"Give us some time ... it's still very early.”

The Africa CDC however stated that unlike the UK variant which is highly contagious, observation has not seen any evidence that the Nigerian variant contributed to the increased transmission of the virus in the west-African country.

Meanwhile, new data from the NCDC may have confirmed the fears of the federal government that the country is experiencing a second of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The health agency in a tweet on Thursday, December 24, confirmed 1041 new cases of the virus in Nigeria.