Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Thursday day confirmed 1041 new #COVID19 cases bringing the country’s caseload to 81,963, even as the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control has said that the mutant strain of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom has not been found in the country.
In a statement on its verified Twitter handle late on Thursday night, the country’s health agency said the new infections were reported in 23 states and the FCT.
According to the update, Lagos, the epicentre of the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria recorded 316 new cases, followed by the FCT-210, Kaduna-83, Plateau-70, Gombe-56, Oyo-56,
Katsina-47, and Nasarawa-35.
Other states with new infections include, Kano-33, Ogun-21, Rivers-17, Niger-14, Imo-14, Delta-12, Kwara-12, Edo-12, Benue-9, Anambra-8, Taraba-4, Ekiti-4, Ebonyi-6, Bayelsa-1, and, Sokoto-1.
The health agency further revealed that so far, 69,651 persons have recovered from the disease with 1242 deaths recorded.
-UK’s COVID-19 variant not yet found in Nigeria, says NCDC
Meanwhile, the mutant strain of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom has not been found in Nigeria, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control said on Thursday.
Ihekweazu who made the disclosure at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said the NCDC did some sequencing in the past but did not find the variant which was said to be deadlier than the original strain of the virus.
According to him, viruses by their nature mutate, noting that the important thing was for people to stay calm and safe.
“Over the last few days, we have monitored reports of the virus mutating in the UK, South Africa, and some other countries but it is important to establish some facts about what we know, what we do not know, and what we are willing to learn over the next few years.
“The most important fact to put out there to calm everybody’s nerves is that viruses mutate all the time.
“We haven’t found that UK strain but also, it is not something we have been looking for on the go. To find that, you have to do sequencing. And our focus has not been on sequencing. We did some sequencing in the past but we haven’t found that.”
“We only found two were similar but not the same. However, we are doing more sequencing. Is it possible that they are circulating? Yes. This is because there are a lot of travels between the UK and Nigeria,” he said.
The NCDC DG who also revealed that there is light at the end of the tunnel for testing, said his agency would collaborate with stakeholders to collect new samples for sequencing in order to determine their variant.
He said, “This is ongoing work. It cannot happen in a hurry. It is very complex. Sequencing is not a straight-forward business which is why we have only a few centres that are able to do it.”
“On testing, there is light at the end of the tunnel. By next year, we will be introducing the use of rapid test kits. We have made a significant procurement that is coming in January and through that, we are taking testing closer to the people away from the laboratories.”
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