The presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 says the COVID-19 strain first reported in the United Kingdom has been found in Nigeria.
Chairman of PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, stated this during the task force briefing on Monday.
According to him, four persons had been diagnosed with the B117 strain in Nigeria. Of the four persons, three are travellers from Nigeria to other places while the fourth person was discovered in-country.
“Over the last few weeks, the PTF has been closely following the rising number of infections reported daily in Nigeria and other jurisdictions.
Similarly, our scientists have been sequencing the variants of the virus. There have been reports of cases with the B117 variant strain, first reported in the UK, found in Nigeria. Three of these were in travellers out of Nigeria and one in a resident.”
The PTF Boss therefore appealed to Nigerians and school proprietors to take all precautionary measures against COVID-19.
Since the discovery of the virus strain, more cases have been reported in the UK as the government imposed lockdowns in parts of the country.
Many countries, including France and Saudi Arabia, have banned international flights to the UK over new strain of COVID-19.
This has led to concerns about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against COVID-19, especially as the vaccines were developed in the UK.
In December, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said a new variant of COVID-19 was reported in Nigeria.
Nkengasong said the virus strain is different from the one in the UK.
