By Ahmed Rahma
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has disclosed that his agency and the African Centre for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at the Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State, have detected an additional six UK’s COVID-19 strain known as B.1.1.7 variants in the country.
At the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 national briefing on Monday, the DG explained that the additional cases were found on January 30.
He said five of the six new cases were from Osun State, while the remaining one was from Kwara State, which is very close to Osun State.
He stated that the five in Osun is most likely related to the fact that this is where ACEGID is and where they get a lot of samples from.
In total, Nigeria has now detected the B.1.1.7 variant in seven persons, noting that this could imply community transmission of this variant of concern.
He said efforts are being made to scale up on genomic surveillance, working very closely with ACEGID, adding that they have begun sequencing positive samples among travellers from the UK and South Africa, who test positive on the seventh day of testing.
“We are developing a protocol to sequence more samples from across states at ACEGID and our sister-agency, NIMR. This is in addition to our capacity at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory,” he explained.
The NCDC boss said that finally, there was really no magic bullet with the variants of concern. Currently, the message was still the same.
“Please, avoid large gatherings, wash your hands regularly, wear a face mask properly and ensure physical distancing,” he advised.
Mr Ihekweazu noted that the agency has continued to review the global and national situation with regards to the variants of concern, and how it affects the nation’s response.
“We are all aware that with the increasing transmission, the virus is adapting to the human population leading to what is known as variants of concern.
“In most countries, it is still not clear if the variants of concern are leading to increased transmission, or if the increase in cases is as a result of poor adherence to public health and social measures.
“An additional layer of response required to really understand the variants of concern is with genetic sequencing and genomic surveillance.
“We have begun this at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory with our partners at ACEGID at Redeemers University, Ede,” he explained.
