Nigeria: Government investigates allegations of UK mutant coronavirus detection in Nigeria – PTF

The federal government is investigating claims by Nigerian scientists that a mutated variant of the coronavirus recently discovered in the United Kingdom has existed in Nigeria for several months.

National Coordinator of the Presidential Working Group (PTF) for COVID-19, dr. Sani Aliyu, who discovered this, said the PTF was in contact with scientists from the University of the Redeemer, Nigeria, in Ede, Osun state, who conducted studies that discovered the UK mutant variant of the coronavirus “lineage B.1.1.7”.

Aliyu said Professor Christian Happi, a professor of molecular biology and genomics, and another scientist, Ify Aniebo, both from the African Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease Genomics, Redeemer University, Nigeria, reported collecting samples from Osun State in August and October. both showed the presence of a new variant.

“We have contacted Professor Happy to seek further clarification in this regard, and we are also talking to the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, NCDC. What is really important at this stage is that sequencing be done immediately. I know the order of sex Happy’s group is in the past did about 250 samples, so that’s really small.

“What we were supposed to do and most of the things he did were in August or September, so we’re a lot further now and what we need to do is make sure we deploy as many outlets as we have now,” Aliyu said.

With the help of development fears, the PTF coordinator stated that it is not unusual for coronavirus strains to replicate very quickly, although he emphasized that the new UK version can now be found in other countries.

“Just to alleviate public anxiety, the species described in the UK, and also now in South Africa, Australia and some other countries, has been shown to be more transferable based on forest research.

“But there is no human epidemiological link that suggests it is more deadly at the moment and certainly always changes in coronaviruses, so if you catch a cold and recover, for example, the next day if you see someone with a cold, you are equally likely to go down with it.”

“These are strains that continue to replicate very quickly, so it’s no surprise that we have a new strain currently being described. But it’s still early days in terms of science, and even in the UK, there’s still a lot of debate about how different it is from previous ones kind.

“We are not trying to say that we should ignore the problem, we had a very long discussion yesterday at PTF, a discussion that lasted more than an hour, and various aspects were discussed and we will continue to follow it very closely. We have already asked Professor Happy to tell us provide additional clarifications because they also worked for the NCDC, ”he noted.

Vanguard News Nigeria