AFNEWS recently discovered a rise in the new COVID-19 variants within the African continent, Nigeria not excluded, which speeds faster than the original virus. However, it has been revealed that the most likely explanation is the variant has emerged in a patient with a weakened immune system that was unable to beat the virus. Instead, their body became a breeding ground for the virus to mutate.
On his part, the Kano State Commissioner of Health Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa has explained why the new variant of COVID-19 is deadlier than the original virus.
Tsanyawa, who gave updates on the COVID-19 situation in Kano yesterday at a news conference at the state Ministry of Health, noted that the virus changes in 17 ways as it moves from one person to another.
“Viruses change all the time. As they copy themselves and jump from host to host, they make mistakes in this copying process called mutations.
“A new variant of the coronavirus found, called P.1, had 17 key changes, compared to the original.
“One of these, the N501Y mutation, is also present in the variant first identified in the United Kingdom (UK), which has made the virus more contagious.
“The other big change was the E484K mutation that makes things more difficult for our antibodies. The E484K is called an escape mutation as it helps the virus escape our antibodies and in so doing, the virus easily and insatiably slips past our immune defences and makes us sick,” Dr. Tsanyawa said.
Additionally, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also announced it has found six cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in the country – the variant currently causing anxiety in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.
Why is this variant causing concern?
The following are some of the reasons
- It is rapidly replacing other versions of the virus
- It has mutations that affect part of the virus likely to be important
- Some of those mutations have already been shown in the lab to increase the ability of the virus to infect cells
