Anthony Fauci said that Americans should forget about snacks and drinks and inviting friends over for the big game because Covid-19 could be the unwelcome guest Sunday at Super Bowl parties.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the chief medical advisor to US President Joe Biden, on Wednesday alerted American citizens to the fact that there could be a spike in Covid-19 cases nationwide if people staged or attended traditional Super Bowl bashes next weekend.

“As much fun as it is to get together for a big Super Bowl party, now is not the time to do that,” Fauci said in an appearance on NBC’s Today show.

About 450,000 people have died in the United States of the deadly virus, which began shutting down US events last March, about six weeks after the 2020 Super Bowl.

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This year’s NFL championship game, Super Bowl 55, will send the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the Bucs’ home field in Tampa, Florida.

“Watch the game and enjoy it, but do it with your family or the people in your household,” Fauci said in TV appearances. “This time around, just lay low and cool it.”

Major US parties are an annual habit around the Super Bowl, with friends and families gathering to socialize and watch the telecast for unique advertisements as well as who wins the NFL championship.

“Every time we have something like this, there’s always a spike, be it a holiday, Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving,” Fauci said on NBC.

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“Super Bowl is a big deal in the United States. Enjoy the game. Watch it on television. But do it with the immediate members of your family, the people in your household.”

A crowd of about 25,000 at the Super Bowl will include 7,500 vaccinated health care workers, but Fauci doesn’t see the NFL championship showdown at Raymond James Stadium as a super-spreader event.

“I believe that they are trying to keep people separated enough in the stands, wearing masks, so they don’t have that proximity,” Fauci said on ABC’s Good Morning America.

A man in the health sector giving advice on how to prevent the spread of a deadly viral infection

American director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Fauci Warns Americans To Skip Super Bowl Parties This Year

As the world’s biggest polluter, China, takes steps towards decarbonizing its economy by 2060, they launched a carbon trading system designed to drive down emissions.

The scheme lets provincial governments set pollution caps for big-power businesses for the first time and allows firms to buy the right to pollute from others with a lower carbon footprint.

The program, initially set to launch in 2017, is expected to drive down overall emissions by making it more costly for power companies to pollute.

The system is expected to eclipse that of the European Union to become the world’s largest emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Official news agency Xinhua said rules for carbon emissions trading management came into effect Monday.

It reported that more than 2,200 power firms across the country — which emit over 26,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year — could now trade their emission quotas.

Beijing has pledged to peak emissions before 2030 and become carbon neutral 30 years later.

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The ETS launches, however, as experts warn China is actually expanding its coal production — and after plans to curb emissions from seven other industries were pared back.

“China is pursuing ambitious build-up of zero-carbon energy and has set a long term goal to be carbon neutral (but) the carbon market in its current form just isn’t going to play much of a role in realizing these ambitions,” Lauri Myllyvirta, a lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, told AFP.

“It could become an important tool in the future, and very fast, if the government decides to give it teeth.”

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Around 60 percent of power in China is still provided by coal, and its powerful industry lobby is expected to press hard for favorable carbon caps.

Zhang Jianyu, vice-president of the NGO Environmental Defense Fund China, warned the penalties for companies exceeding the emissions quota are also “too low to act as a deterrent”.

China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 were estimated at 13.92 billion tonnes — about 29 percent of the world’s total.

New coal projects have also surged despite the pledge to drive down emissions.

Li Shuo, an energy expert at Greenpeace China, said that coal production is edging back to the levels seen between 2012-2014 when emissions peaked.

an industrial plant in China disposing of gaseous waste

Climate: China Launches Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme

The pioneer Grand Khadi of the Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal, Justice Abdkadri Orire died on Tuesday at age 87.

The Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in his condolence message described the deceased jurist as an exemplary leader who distinguished himself as an erudite legal scholar, researcher, Muslim community leader, and development activist.

“Today, our state lost of one of its finest jurists, a founding father, and indeed a national statesman, retired Justice Abdul Kadir Orire (CON), who was the pioneer Grand Khadi of the Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal between 1975 and 1999. He died at the ripe age of 87."

“With total submission to the will of Almighty Allah who is the giver and taker of life, I join all our people in Ilorin and across Kwara and Kogi States to mourn the passing of this exemplary leader who distinguished himself as an erudite legal scholar, His roles in the founding of the University of Ilorin and other great institutions stand tall for posterity. Baba would be sorely missed!,” AbdulRazaq said in the statement.

The governor also sympathized with Mai Martaba the Emir of Ilorin Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), and the entire state on what he described as a “sad yet inevitable development.”

“My special commiseration goes to the immediate and extended family of Justice Orire who would carry on the great legacies of the great Islamic leader and jurist,” he added.

In the same vein, the Emir of Ilorin and chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Ibrahim Sulugambari described the deceased as a committed elder stateman who contributed immensely to the propagation of Islam.

The late justice Orire was the grand khadi of the Kwara state Sharia Court of Appeal between 1975 and 1999.

an old man who was an exemplary Muslim leader  

Kwara’s Pioneer Grand Khadi, Justice Orire, Dies At 87

A White House official disclosed that President Joe Biden is set to re-impose a Covid-19 travel ban on all non-US citizens who have been in Britain, Brazil, Ireland and much of Europe.

This development is coming in as the new administration works on improving its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In light of reports suggesting the presence of the South African strain of the virus in the United States, the official stated that the President, Biden will also extend the ban to travelers who have recently been to South Africa. This statement confirms the report of US media houses reporting the presence of this more transmissible coronavirus variants for some time now.

[READ THIS] Kenya Detects First Cases Of South Africa COVID-19 Strain.

As the case of COVID-19 is on the high within the country, the new president has chosen to enforce strict compliance with mask-wearing and he also ordered quarantine for people flying into the United States.

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Biden has said that the Covid-19 death toll would likely rise from 420,000 to half a million next month — and that drastic action was needed.

“We’re in a national emergency. It’s time we treated it like one,” he said on Thursday.

In his last days in office, Donald Trump announced that a Covid-19 ban on travelers arriving from much of Europe and Brazil would be lifted — but the Biden administration immediately said it would reverse the order due to come into effect on January 26.

Trump had announced an initial ban on January 31, 2020, on non-American travelers entering from China to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The ban was extended to European countries on March 14 as the pandemic entered full force.

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More than 25 million Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the US since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally on Sunday.

Biden has made fighting the coronavirus a priority and is pushing for Congress to approve a $1.9-trillion relief package that would include billions of dollars to boost vaccination rates.

The president, who was inaugurated on January 20, has said he wants 100 million people vaccinated within his first 100 days in office, and he has called for Americans to wear masks for 100 days.

newly elected president making changes to prevent the spread of a deadly virus

COVID-19: Biden Set to re-impose travel ban on UK, Europe

According to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, he Nigeria Police performed excellently between 2019/2020 in spite of the various insecurity challenges the country faced.

Also, the IGP stated that prior to his time, they were issues of banditry along Kaduna-Abuja expressway and on assuming office, his men had been able to put an end to that crisis.

“Apart from the insurgency that is being successfully dealt with in the northeast, there were issues in the north-central in terms of farmers-herders conflicts and even kidnappings."

“We re-strategized, created an operation, Puff Adder. We retrained our Special Forces, we identified police officers that have been in the theatre of operations in the northeast before they went and came back.

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“We retrained them and sent them to the field. So we were able to succeed in bringing down to a very low level of kidnapping and banditry,” the police boss disclosed.

The Police Chief also dropped his two cent on the issue of Amotekun and other security bodies. He said the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria only approves of one Police Force.

He said, “any other organisation or any other arrangements that deal with prevention of crimes, passing information, creating of intelligence is just supporting the activities of the Nigeria Police”.

IGP Adamu was of the opinion that every other security outfit set up to work with the police, should not bear arms as to avoid indiscriminate killings.

Mohammed Adamu giving details of all the police force has achieved in respect to insecurity

IGP: Nigeria Police Performed Excellently In 2019/2020

According to the Minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Federal Government has let go of N10billion to support local vaccine production.

Dr Ehanire disclosed the Federal Government's plan on domestic vaccine production at the briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF),

The minister stated that the Federal Government's plan to get the vaccine produced locally was already in full swing because they had already spoken to a producer.

On the other hand, the minister also noted that while they seek to get the vaccine from a local producer, the Federal Government is also actively looking into joint production of the vaccines with recognized institutions.

Dr Ehanire also took the opportunity to urge Nigerians to treat any news indicating the sale of vaccine within the country as false.

“There are procedures for vaccine acquisition and use which include appropriate regulation and certification by NAFDAC,” the minister mentioned while warning against the use of fake vaccines. 

He added that the NPHCDA is the only authorized vaccine administrator in Nigeria and no vaccine has been approved yet for use.

Dr Ehanire also noted that while the prospect of a vaccine arriving soon is cheering, the importance of non-pharmaceutical measures remains critical to preventing infections.

“Wear your face masks, wash your hands regularly or use hand sanitizers, avoid close contacts and crowded places and if you have symptoms like cough, difficulty in breathing, sudden loss of taste and smell, and fever, please get tested,” the minister advised.

Below is Dr Ehanire’s full statement as presented at the briefing on Monday.

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PRESS BRIEFING BY HON. MINISTER OF HEALTH, DR. OSAGIE EHANIRE AT THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE ON COVID-19 PRESS BRIEFING ON MONDAY 18TH JANUARY, 2021

The number of new covid19 cases has continued to rise in Nigeria, such that we confirmed 10,300 cases from just 50,750 samples tested in one week, translating to 20% positivity rate. It means 1 of every 5 persons tested last week turned out positive, compared to the previous week which recorded a positivity rate of 14%. This is a serious escalation of cases.

2. Nigeria’s total number of confirmed cases is 110,387 out of a total of 1,172,234 samples tested, with a cumulative positivity rate of 9.4%. 1,444 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, with sadly 77 deaths in the past week and total fatality of 1,435. It is instructive of the 2nd wave that all cases recorded so far this January make up more than 20% of all confirmed cases, barely halfway through the month, and more than the whole of December.

3. There is no question that we are deeply into the second wave of the pandemic which requires that PTF and FMoH review our strategies to respond to the challenge and take additional measures to check the case deluge that can threaten our health system’s capacity to cope.

4. The Federal Ministry of Health has outlined three approaches to confront the pandemic:

4. Reducing infection rate for COVID-19 remains the easiest, cheapest objective of government, whose main effort is to ensure social mobilization for risk communication, testing, strengthening surveillance activities for early detection, active contact tracing, isolation and treatment; however, implementation of critical non-pharmaceutical measures requires much cooperation of the public.

We expect much more adherence to wearing masks, social distancing, use of sanitizers etc., than we are seeing today. Social distancing is of special concern, especially with regard to so-called “super spreader activities” that involve congregational settings, which need to be reduced, restricted or prohibited in the interest of the common good.

5. With regards to therapeutics, we still strive to reduce mortality from this disease by ensuring adequate stock of supplies and strengthening our case management capacity. The Ministry of Health is working to expand oxygen availability across the country to address shortages, which have been seen to be a challenge globally, and also to review the value of various pharmaceuticals and protocols proposed for COVID-19 treatment. Clinicians are urged to work out guidelines for participating in clinical studies for ivermectin. The Honorable Minister of State and I joined in a virtual meeting of the FMoH Case Management Pillar, which provided an opportunity to interact with those in charge of managing cases in Isolation Centers. Gaps and challenges identified are already being addressed. Such meetings are held regularly to ensure quality of care in our treatment centers and also provide a platform for case managers to compare notes on treatment approaches.

6. Clinicians are advised to consider National Interim Clinical Guidelines for Management of COVID-19 cases, bearing in mind their discretion, as various novel treatment options emerge and are evaluated.

7. I use this opportunity to recognize and thank our frontline health workers for the great work they are doing in the face of challenges, which we in Nigeria are handling as well as any other country. I assure you that Government will provide all necessary support to facilitate quality of care at the centers. Citizens can trust Government hospitals because of the extensive experience our clinicians have accumulated in managing covid-19.

8. On vaccines, we are exploring all options available for the acquisition of approved vaccines for Nigerians. We are hopeful that the first consignment will arrive the country in some weeks. Apart from the COVAX facility, which is billed to cover vaccination of just 20% of our population, we plan to increase our chances of getting enough vaccines to meet the country’s need to cover an additional 50% of the population. Nigeria is participating in the African Union initiative called “African Vaccine Availability Task Team”, which reports directly to the African Union Chairman, President Ramaphosa of South Africa, and has secured options for 270 million doses of various types of vaccines. Bearing in mind options suitable for our environment and our available infrastructure, as well as Investment in delivery, Nigeria has written to express interest in 10 million doses of the viral vector vaccine, which could be supplied as from March 2021. This vaccine does nor require deep freezers.

9. Preparation for covid-19 vaccine requires that countries determine criteria for prioritization, develop a robust vaccine distribution strategy and identify vaccine administration sites and teams. Nigeria fortunately has experience and residual assets from polio eradication initiative, which will give us a head start. However, It also requires us to develop a procurement, supply chain and distribution plan for commodities and devices, as well as a sustainability plan. These are what the NPHCDA, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency is already working on.

10. Tomorrow, 19th January, 2021, FMoH shall hold a National Vaccine Conference, as part of our preparations, to mobilize experts, role players, Development Partners and stakeholders to create a unified and strategic front for the provision and vaccination of Nigerians against COVID 19. The Conference will also provide a platform for deliberation on our covid-19 response strategy especially at this time of spike in cases. We shall engage other FMOH Agencies, especially NAFDAC and NCDC, State governments, Religious, Traditional and community leaders, in plans for vaccines distribution, since their role is critical to the orderly and successful deployment. We must be able to reach all eligible to receive it.

11. The Ministry of Finance has released N10 billion to support domestic vaccine production. While we are working to develop our own vaccines, Nigeria is exploring options for licensed production in collaboration with recognized institutions, we are also exploring the option of local production of the vaccines in country and have had discussion with a producer.

12. There are reports of claims by some persons in Nigeria, to have COVID-19 vaccines for sale in the country. I advise all citizens to disregard these claims as they are criminal. There are procedures for vaccine acquisition and use which include appropriate regulation and certification by NAFDAC. I advise against risk of fake vaccines, as there is no vaccine yet approved for use and NPHCDA is the only authorized vaccine administrator in Nigeria.

13. Finally, I remind us all that, while the prospect of a vaccine arriving soon is cheering, the importance of non-pharmaceutical measures remain critical to prevent infections. Wear your face masks, wash your hands regularly or use hand sanitizers, avoid close contacts and crowded places and if you have symptoms like cough, difficulty in breathing, sudden loss of taste and smell and fever, please get tested.

a man representing the federal government is addressing the issue of vaccine production at a briefing 

COVID-19: FG Releases N10bn To Support Local Vaccine Production

The technical team of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has began a search over the origin of the fire outbreak at their headquarters in Abuja.

The incident was confirmed to have happened on Sunday and reports read that three sections of the building was affected by the fire.

Muhammad Babandede, the Comptroller General of NIS, during a press conference withjournalists in Abuja on Monday mentioned the affected sections and they include:

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1) The Call Center where about 10,000 calls are received, within and outside Nigeria on passport and visa matters.

2) Interpol Connectivity where the Service says they have lost connectivity with the airport and 24 locations.

3). The Migration Information and data analysis system.

Babandede also added that the ICT department have been able to retrieve hard disks.

According to the Immigration boss, the fire outbreak won't affect any of the processes already in the works and he put the minds of Nigerians to rest by assuring them that their team is already taking necessary steps to restore connectivity. 

He said they hope to be back to work in as little as four days.

Also, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Interior and Representative of the Minister, Shuaib Belgore, mentioned that no data was lost to the fire as all the systems were backed up prior to the unfortunate incident.

Mr. Belgore also expressed pleasure at the prompt response of the institute to the incident, but not without stating that the cooperation of every member of the institution is already involved in carrying out an investigation devoid of abnormalities.

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Fire guts down the building of the Nigeria immigration service 

Nigeria Immigration Service begins search over fire wave

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the President of Nigeria, played host to Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

Also present at the occasion was Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari.

Governor of Lagos state, Sanwo-olu, presenting Buhari with report

sanwo-olu pays a visit to President Buhari

Sanwo-Olu Pays Buhari a Visit at Aso-Rock

After series of postponements, the Special Public Works Program designed to assist 774,000 unemployed Nigerians will commence on Tuesday across the Nation.

Festus Keyamo, The Minister of State for Labor and Employment, took to his Twitter handle on Sunday night to disclose this information. The Minister further explained that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), has approved the commencement of the initiative.

His tweet read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the take off of the Special Public Works Program (engaging 774,000 unemployed itinerant Nigerians) to begin nationwide on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021. All NDE state structures are already in top gear for the take-off ceremonies.”

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The program, designed to employ 1,000 Nigerians from each of the 774 local government areas in the country was initially scheduled for launch on October 1, last year but it ran into hitches following the power play between Keyamo and the Director-General, National Directorate of Employment, Nasir Ladan, who was sacked last month.

Each of the 774,000 workers will earn N20,000 monthly for three months duration of the job, amounting to about N46.44 billion.

The ministers are expected to launch the scheme in their respective states in collaboration with the governors.

a minister addressing the issue of unemployment.

The Minister of Labor and Employment during President Buhari's administration

The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has urged Lagosians to respect the 12am to 4am curfew imposed by the Federal Government as various churches plan to hold Crossover Services on December 31, 2020.

He also urged religious leaders to ensure their followers observe the protocols put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country battles the second wave of the pandemic.

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The governor disclosed this on Thursday while responding to questions from journalists at the State House in Marina, Lagos.

Earlier, the Ondo State Government on Wednesday announced the cancelation of cross-over services in churches across the state. Similarly, the Ogun State Government said it restricted attendance at cross-over services.

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No Cross-over Services; Respect 12am to 4am curfew: Sanwo-Olu tells Lagosians

The world football governing body, FIFA, has filed a criminal complaint against its former president, Sepp Blatter, over the mismanagement of the finances of its museum in Zurich.

According to FIFA, funds which should have been channelled into the development of football were used in refurbishing a building it doesn’t own.

“The complaint includes the entire project costs at CHF 500 million ($564.59 million), and identifies that the previous FIFA administration poured CHF 140 million into renovating and refurbishing a building that the organization doesn’t own, while also locking itself into a long-term rental agreement on unfavourable terms when compared to standard market rates, which, in total, will cost FIFA CHF 360 million by the date of expiration in 2045,” FIFA said in a statement.

“That is half a billion Swiss Francs that could and should have been channelled into the development of global football.”

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Blatter’s lawyer, Lorenz Erni said that the accusations, are “baseless and are vehemently repudiated”.

It will be recalled that Blatter presided over FIFA for 17 years before he was banned due to criminal proceedings against him in 2015.

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FIFA files criminal complaint against ex-president Blatter 

The United Kingdom’s ‘lineage B.1.1.7,’ a mutant variant of the COVID-19 global pandemic, has been discovered in Nigerian, according to scientists at the Redeemer’s University, Nigeria.

According to them, the ‘lineage B.1.1.7’ mutant variant of the coronavirus has been in existence in Osun State since August 3, 2020, when they obtained the first sample.

They also reported the collection of another sample from the state in October, and it also showed the presence of this new variant.

Recently, another lockdown was imposed in the United Kingdom due to a new wave of COVID-19 which has been largely blamed on the ‘lineage B.1.1.7’ variant of COVID-19.

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According to the study conducted by the Redeemer's University, which was first published last September 6 in The Conversation, a copyright-free news channel; genome sequencing helped researchers to understand the virus, its epidemiology and evolution.

More recently, the finding was also published online in peer-reviewed Journal of Virological Methods on Monday, December 21, and titled, ‘Detection of the New Emergent SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Nigeria.

The study was carried out by two scientists at RUN, which is based in Ede, Osun State — Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics, Christian Happi; and Ify Aniebo.

The researchers are of the African Centre of Excellence for the Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the RUN’s Ede campus.

They worked in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and had reported 24 additional genome sequences of the COVID-19 from Nigeria.

It will be recalled that last week, the UK had reported a more virulent strain of COVID-19, with the potential to infect by 70 percent.

The B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, thought to be a mutation associated with higher transmission and pathogenicity, is the latest scourge in the United Kingdom and has made the British government to declare another lockdown to check its spread.

A handful of countries have also banned flights from the UK in order to prevent its importation into their countries.

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In an article published by The Conversation, Prof. Happi stated that globally, there is only one strain of SARS-CoV-2, which is also the same as the strain circulating in Nigeria. He however noted that there are more than 1,000 lineages of this novel virus in circulation around the world.

While identifying the root of the pandemic, the researchers said many sequences originating from China and many global exports — including to South East Asia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the USA and Europe — are represented in this lineage.

More crucially, the researchers said the B.1 strain of COVID-19 was of a large European lineage that corresponds to the Italian outbreak.

They added that the B.2.1 strain was of a large lineage with representation from the UK, Europe, Jordan, Australia, USA, India, and Ghana.

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When discussing their findings, the scientists said, “We investigated the presence of the globally spread spike protein mutation D614G which has steadily increased temporally in Europe, East coast of the United States, South America,

Africa and some parts of Asia, and found four Nigerian patients infected with the Spike D614G mutant virus.”

They also added, “Three of these patients presented with very severe disease. This mutation has been associated with higher transmission and pathogenicity, and also helps the virus to evade immune interventions as it dominates the wild type whenever it is introduced into a new location.”

According to the researchers, only about one percent of the genomes from Nigeria belong to the mutant B.1.1.7 lineage and that one of them predated the UK experience.

Stressing the importance of their findings, the researchers said, “Inasmuch as the full effect of this mutation is still being studied, the importance of a robust genomic surveillance system cannot be overemphasised, as we can identify and report changes in the genomes of pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 that are of public health interest.”

Speaking about the UK COVID-19 strain in the House of Commons last week, Britain’s Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock, said the new variant of coronavirus might be associated with the faster spread in the south-east of England.

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, also said the new strain of coronavirus could be “up to 70 per cent more transmissible” than the earlier one.

Again, on Monday, a lady, Jenny Dissents, on Twitter @StilettoKitten alleged that the new strain of COVID-19 in the UK had blinded her brother.

The RUN scientists, however, noted that, “The lineages identified in Nigeria are not different from the ones identified in other parts of the world and there are no reports of strains or lineages unique to Nigeria thus far.”

Discussing the implications of COVID-19 mutation, they said, “For instance, a virus with an advantageous mutation could affect humans more readily, thereby spreading more easily between people; it could be less recognised by the immune system, or more pathogenic [causing disease].

“If a mutation occurs in the region of the virus that was used to develop the vaccine, the vaccine will not be as effective. This is what happens in the case of flu vaccines because the virus keeps mutating into a new strain.”

As of the time they made their findings public last September 6, the scientists had warned, “We do not know much about SARS-CoV-2 yet. And we don’t know if the virus will mutate into a new strain down the line.

“If it does happen, it could require the development of a new vaccine.”

When Prof. Happi was asked whether the world might need a new vaccine to combat the virus, on account of the COVID-19 mutation, he said, “We never said that the new variant would resort in developing a new vaccine.

“The areas affected by the mutations are not the ones targeted by the vaccines.”

He added that their study hadn’t observed rapid rise of the lineage in Nigeria and that they did not have sufficient evidence to indicate that the B.1.1.7 lineage is contributing to increased transmission of the virus in Nigeria.

UK’s new COVID-19 variant found in Nigeria- Scientists

Nigerian newspapers,on one page.