Another new coronavirus variant appears to emerge in Nigeria, Africa CDC says

Africa CDC chief John Nkengasong said this one is a separate lineage from those in the UK and South Africa

The variant was found in two patient samples collected on August 3 and on October 9 in Nigeria’s Osun state

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Volunteers wait to be checked at a vaccine trial facility at Soweto’s Chris Sani Baragwanath Hospital outside Johannesburg, South Africa. File photo: AP

Published: 7:55pm, 24 Dec 2020Updated: 11:06pm, 25 Dec 2020

Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s top public health official said on Thursday, but he added that further investigation was needed.

The discovery could add to new alarm in the pandemic after similar variants were announced in Britain and South Africa, leading to the swift return of international travel restrictions and other measures just as the world enters a major holiday season.

“It’s a separate lineage from the UK and South Africa,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. He said the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in that country – Africa’s most populous – will be analysing more samples.

“Give us some time … it’s still very early,” he said.

The alert about the apparent new variant was based on two or three genetic sequences, he said, but that and South Africa’s alert late last week were enough to prompt an emergency meeting of the Africa CDC this week.

The variant was found in two patient samples collected on August 3 and on October 9 in Nigeria’s Osun state, according to a working research paper seen by Associated Press.