Amid Highly Infectious Omicron, France Detects Another COVID-19 Variant

Amid Highly Infectious Omicron, France Detects Another COVID-19 Variant

  • While the world is struggling with the infectious Omicron COVID-19 variant, another strain of the virus has emerged
  • Scientists in France at the IHU Mediterranee Infection have discovered a new variant called IHU but termed to be less infectious than Omicron
  • It was discovered that 12 persons have been infected with the strain with the first case traced to a person who recently travelled to Cameroun

Medical scientists in France have discovered a new COVID-19 variant, IHU, with 46 mutations, while nations battle with the highly infectious Omicron.

The scientists stated that not less than 12 persons living in southeastern France have been infected with the new variant.

IHU variant
Scientists say the variant may not be as infectious as Omicron (Photo: Newstalk ZB)
Source: UGC

It was gathered that the first case has been traced to a person with a travel history to Cameroun.

However, health experts explained that though a new, IHU may not necessarily be as infectious and dangerous as other variants like Omicron.

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The scientists identified “46 mutations” that are yet to be spotted in other parts of the world nor labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Bloomberg said.

Daily Mail reports that the strain was discovered by researchers based at the IHU Mediterranee Infection, hence the name.

Omicron variant: Hard times as another foreign country takes strong action against Nigeria

Meanwhile, Nigeria had been included in the United Kingdom (UK)'s red list of countries following the discovery of Omicron variant of COVID-19 cases linked to it.

The British government made the announcement in a statement shared on the UK government's website on Saturday, December 4, in a bid to tackle the spread of the virus.

According to Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, all international arrivals to the UK would be required to take pre-departure COVID-19 tests from 4:00am on Monday, December 6.

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Nigeria takes 'strong' decision on importation of expired COVID-19 vaccines

Following the new protocol announced, UK citizens and residents would be able to enter the country from Nigeria but they would have to pay to stay in a quarantine for 10 days.

However, non-UK and non-Irish citizens who are travelling in from Nigeria would not be allowed entry into the UK.

Source: Legit.ng

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