NCDC: No new COVID sub-variants in Nigeria — but surveillance ongoing

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the Omicron sub-variants partly responsible for the rise in COVID cases and deaths in other countries, have not yet been detected in Nigeria.

The agency, in its COVID genomic surveillance report published on Wednesday, said its emergency operations centre (EOC) is monitoring COVID trends in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries with a high volume of traffic to and from Nigeria.

It said before the recent case increase in China and other countries, genomic surveillance has shown that the Omicron variant and its lineages continue to dominate in recorded infections worldwide.

The NCDC said while the rise in the new Omicron sub-lineages XBB.1.5 in the UK and the US, and BF.7 in China raises concern, they have not been detected in Nigeria.

“The sub-lineage seen with cases in China, B.5.2.1 and BF.7, are responsible for the surge in China and does not appear to be increasing unusually in other countries. The NCDC continues to strengthen genomic surveillance of the COVID-19 virus in Nigeria. Since the detection of the Omicron variant in December 2021, its sub-lineage (BQ.1/BQ.1.1) has been dominant in Nigeria,” the report reads.

“None of these dominant sub-lineages in Nigeria that are also circulating elsewhere has been associated with any increases in case numbers, admissions, or deaths locally.

“The sub-lineages partly responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases in other countries i.e., XBB.1.5 and BF.7 have not yet been detected in the country but B.5.2.1 has been seen here since July 2022 and the others are most likely here already. BF.7 and XBB have also been circulating in South Africa since October 2022 but without any accompanying increase in cases, severe illness, or deaths.”

The agency said regardless of COVID variants in different parts of the world, unvaccinated people and those with established risk factors are vulnerable to severe disease and death.

It, therefore, asked Nigerians to get vaccinated, as the vaccine is the most important intervention for preventing severe disease and hospitalisation.

The development comes amid concerns over the federal government’s refusal to impose restrictions on travellers from China following a surge in the country’s COVID cases.

Other countries that have imposed mandatory COVID tests on travellers from China include Ghana, the UK, Spain, France, Italy, the United States, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia.