New UK COVID-19 Strain Now In Nigeria - Medical Experts Warn

The new COVID-19 strain currently sweeping across the southern part of the U.K. has emerged in Nigeria since August.

This is according to medical experts at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at Redeemers University in Ede, Osun State confirm this, Premium Times reports.

The new version of COVID-19 discovered in the UK in September is labelled lineage B.1.1.7.

In an article published on the virological website by ACEGID experts, they claimed to have observed the disease in people in Osun.

The experts said they first observed the virus in the state in a blood sample taken in August. In October, the virus was detected in another body.

As a result of the outbreak, many countries around the world imposed sanctions on the United Kingdom, barring people from the region from entering their country.

The head of ACEGID, Christian Happi, who is an expert in the field, said they have seen a B.1.1.7 lineage in Nigeria.

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Despite the increase in COVID-19, the Happi said so far only 1% of nurses in Nigeria have been infected with SARS-CoV-2.

He said other COVID-19 strains, such as the N501Y, A570D, and HV 69 – 70, had not yet appeared in the population.

It was reported yesterday that the Federal Government is contemplating imposing a travel ban on flights from the United Kingdom and certain parts of the world over the new strain of COVID-19 manifesting in the UK.

Recently, countries like Spain, India, Hong Kong, etc have suspended flights to and from the UK, as the new COVID-19 variant has now been discovered in Iceland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Australia.