New COVID-19 Variants Not In Nigeria – NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) on Saturday, said the subvariants Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have not yet been identified in Nigeria.

This was as it said it was monitoring the new EG.5 and BA.2.86 subvariants.

NCDC made this known in a press statement issued by its Director General, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa.

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 9, 2023, designated EG.5, a descendant lineage of XBB.1.9.2, and its sub-lineages as a variant of interest.

The EG.5 according to WHO is a sublineage of the omicron variant and has been detected in 51 countries, including China, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, and Spain.

WHO in the risk assessment conducted said that the EG.5 variant poses a low risk at the global level.

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The statement read in part: “In addition, EG.5 has not been associated with any change in symptoms or a clinical manifestation and has not produced an increase in severity of illness and, or hospitalisations or difference in death rates in reporting countries.

“EG.5 causes symptoms like those seen with other COVID-19 variants, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, and sore throat. So far, only one case of EG.5 has been seen in Africa, it has not been identified in Nigeria.”