“It’s a separate lineage from the U.K. and South Africa,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters.
He said the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases would analyze more samples.
The new virus variant in South Africa is now the predominant one there, Nkengasong said, as confirmed infections in the country approach 1 million.
“We believe this mutation will not have an effect” on the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to the continent, he said of the South Africa variant.
Infections across the continent have risen 10.9% over the past four weeks, the Africa CDC director said, including a 52% increase in Nigeria and 40% increase in South Africa.