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Another new variant of the novel coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, the head of Africa’s disease watchdog said, warning that more research is needed.
The news comes after Britain and South Africa reported new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that appear to be more contagious, sparking new travel restrictions and market turmoil.
“It’s a different lineage from the UK and South African lineages,” John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at an online press conference from Addis Ababa.
“The one we are seeing in Nigeria, and this is based on very limited data yet, has the 501 mutation,” added Nkengasong, referring to the so-called 501.V2 variant identified in South Africa and announced by public health officials there on December 18.
The CDC of Nigeria and the African Center of Excellence in Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria will study more samples, Nkengasong said.
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The country’s main Covid-19 researcher has just publicly published the genomic sequences of the new variant, he added.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with more than 200 million people, has seen fewer coronavirus cases than many others on the continent.
The total number of cases passed 80,000 yesterday. Daily registered cases surpassed 1,000 for the first time this month.
Rise of Covid-19 Makes Millions Face Christmas Lockouts
Millions of people around the world have been forced to cancel plans or limit holidays under new Covid-19 shutdowns.
After a pandemic year in which more than 1.7 million people died from Covid-19, the new outbreaks are a reminder that despite emergency vaccine launches, life is unlikely to return. normalcy quickly.
In Australia, often a rare bright spot to keep the virus in check, a growing cluster of cases in northern Sydney have confined residents to seaside suburbs and prompted a ban on all but Christmas family gatherings. smaller.
In Europe, much of the continent is experiencing a resurgence of outbreaks.
Germany has been forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets and Pope Francis plans to advance the Vatican’s midnight Christmas mass by two hours to comply with the curfew rules in Italy.
Businesses in Ireland face new restrictions as of 3pm and the National Public Health Emergency Team is recommending further restrictions from Saturday.
In Bethlehem, the mass will be held without worshipers and will be broadcast online.
But for many, the isolation that has defined last year will continue until Christmas Day and beyond, as in Belgium, where residents are largely limited to receiving a single visitor.
In the Philippines, some choose to vacation alone due to the risk of contracting the virus on public transportation, as well as quarantine rules that make travel expensive and time-consuming.
The British, meanwhile, were isolated from some areas of the world due to the emergence of a new strain of Covid-19.
Some UK border restrictions have been temporarily relaxed for the holidays, but thousands of other European countries are still stranded in England.
“Home for Christmas? Forget it,” said Laurent Beghin, a French trucker who delivered his load but was still stuck days later.
China has also announced that it will suspend direct flights to and from the UK, citing the emergence of the new strain of coronavirus.
In the United States, more than a million people have been vaccinated, but the country’s response to the coronavirus remained chaotic as President Donald Trump took off by helicopter from the White House lawn for one of the last times in his presidency.
The Republican and his wife Melania were destined for a vacation at their Mar-a-Lago Florida resort after their shocking rejection of a massive coronavirus relief package approved by Congress.
New Years celebrations are looking depressing globally, with closings imminent for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Austria in the post-Christmas period, while Portugal has imposed a curfew on New Years Eve.
For now, Sydney still plans to perform in 2021 with its famous Harbor Bridge fireworks show, and New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian has promised that the seven-minute show will continue “no matter what.”
But, as with most of 2020, people are encouraged to watch TV from their couches.
South Korea to import vaccines for 16 million people
South Korea signed agreements with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen to import coronavirus vaccines to cover up to 16 million people, as it grapples with the third wave of the pandemic, the prime minister said.
The government has faced mounting public pressure over its plans to purchase the Covid-19 vaccine, as the country reported its second-highest daily case count yesterday.
Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech, will be enough to cover 10 million people and is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2021.
The Pfizer and Janssen agreements are part of a government plan to purchase sufficient doses from four pharmacists and the global COVAX initiative, backed by the World Health Organization, which will allow the immunization of at least 85% of the population of 52 million from South Korea.
South Korea has increased testing to more than 55,000 people a day, up from about 16,000 a day in September, to track cases of unknown origin and asymptomatic cases.
Authorities have closed all winter resorts and resorts and banned gatherings of more than four in a bid to stop the spread over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy won international praise earlier this year when it quickly suppressed the outbreaks with aggressive high-tech contact tracing, but officials acknowledged an overconfidence that had them scrambling to contain a third wave.
Macron shows no more symptoms of Covid-19
French President Emmanuel Macronis shows no more symptoms of COVID-19, the Elysee’s office said.
Macron, 43, is now able to end his quarantine after isolating himself for seven days at La Lanterne’s presidential retreat near the Palace of Versailles, the office said in a statement.
He had tested positive for the coronavirus on December 17, prompting a track and trace effort across Europe following numerous meetings between the French leader and EU heads of government in recent days.
Mr Macron suffered from headaches, dry cough and tiredness for several days and his health improved yesterday.
French authorities are concerned that the Christmas holiday period could see a further increase in infections, after the total number of Covid deaths in the country rose to nearly 62,000 this week.
Authorities said last night that nearly 15,000 new cases had been reported in the previous 24 hours and 278 new deaths.
A vaccination campaign will begin on Sunday, with healthcare workers and older people among the first to receive injections, the government said.
The EU gave the green light to Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine on Monday, paving the way for the first vaccines to begin in 27 countries shortly after Christmas.
The French health authority HAS has authorized the vaccine for use in France.
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