COVID-19 strain in Nigeria first detected in China

 

The COVID-19 strain identified in Nigeria was first detected in China.

Specifically, the mutation was first seen in Guangdong, China, a report in Global Times has revealed.

The Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangdong CDC) had detected the B.1.525 variant identified in Nigeria from nasopharyngeal swabs of two imported COVID-19 cases for the first time on Friday. However, the virus isolation is still in progress, as disclosed on the official website of the CDC on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the two cases were discovered in closed-loop management and reported as asymptomatic infections on February 21 and 22 respectively. The two cases are still under intensive medical observation in the hospital.

The report noted that on March 5, Guangdong CDC had received nasopharyngeal swabs from Guangzhou. Thereafter, it had immediately begun virus isolation and genome sequencing analysis. Later on the same day, gene sequencing analysis of the original sample indicated that it was a mutated strain found in Nigeria. The mutated COVID-19 strain is said to be currently circulating in 26 countries. It has been reported that the mutation makes the virus more transmissible; is prone to cause antibody neutralization and escape from antibodies; possibly leading to re-infection in patients who had been infected with COVID-19.

Global Times reports that this is the third COVID-19 mutation detected by Guangdong CDC; since the B.1.1.7 variant was detected in the throat swab sample of a confirmed imported COVID-19 case from the UK on January 2; as well as when the variant 501Y.V2 found in South Africa was isolated from the throat swab of a South African case; which was reportedly imported from abroad on January 6.

Nigeria is currently in the middle of a nationwide vaccination rollout to innoculate citizens against COVID-19.