The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has said a South African new variant of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Ghana.
The outfit has explained the new variant is more transmissible than the first wave variants, with high viral shedding.
It announced this in a statement on Friday, January, 29, 2021, which indicated at least 40 countries on the continent as of January 27 have experienced the second wave of the pandemic.
“A total of three new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been identified across the world; 501Y/VUI – 202012/01 in the United Kingdom, 501Y.V2 in South Africa and 501Y.V3 in Brazil.
“There is currently limited data on the extent to which these new variants have spread in Africa, but preliminary data shows that the 501Y.V2 variant, which was first discovered in South Africa, is currently spreading in 22 countries across the world including Ghana, Botswana and Zambia,” part of the statement read.
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Africa CDC said it was working to map out the regional spread of all three variants as well as support local laboratories to address the emerging SARS-CoV-2 sequencing needs and ensure availability of geographically representative and timely data.
Read the full statement below:
