Another new strain of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s top public health official said Thursday, but he added that further investigation was needed. “It’s a separate lineage from the U.K. and South Africa,” John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters. The Nigeria variant was found in two patient samples collected Aug. 3 and Oct. 9 in Osun state, according to a working research paper seen by the Associated Press. Nkengasong also said the South Africa strain “will not have an effect” on the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. Nigeria now has more than 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 24, 2020 12:48 UTC