A new COVID-19 variant, B.1.2.5, is said to have been detected in Nigeria and 15 other countries. This new variant is said to be different from the highly infectious UK variant B.1.1.7.
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control NCDC Director-General, Dr Chikwe Iheakweazu disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, 22nd February, in Abuja, noting that the variant has, however, not been described as a variant of concern yet.
Iheakweazu stated that researchers and scientists were still working hard to understand if the COVID-19 variant had any effect on the virus’ transmissibility, immunity as well as diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. “As we shared, a total of 54 cases with the B.1.1.7 variant strain, which is a variant of concern first described in the UK, have been detected in Nigeria. There is a new variant, the B.1.2.5, which we have begun to detect in Nigeria and 15 other countries.”
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“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”, he said.
“The risk of mutation is highest with increased transmission, therefore adhering to non-pharmaceutical interventions to limit #COVID19 spread is critical to prevent new variants from emerging”
~ DG NCDC, @Chikwe_I pic.twitter.com/YZaTb6bfhi
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) February 22, 2021
“We thank our sister agency @nimrnigeria, the states & our partners for a successful #COVID19 seroprevalence survey in four states.
Survey indicates that majority of sampled population are susceptible to the virus infection, which highlights need for vaccines”~ DG @Chikwe_I pic.twitter.com/01wM3hvyKQ
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) February 22, 2021
Photos Credit: NCDC/Twitter
