PTF says UK COVID-19 strain now in Nigeria

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 says cases of B117 strain of COVID-19 have been recorded in Nigeria.

The strain was first reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Chairman of PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, made this known during the task force briefing on Monday.

Mustapha said four persons had been diagnosed with the B117 strain in Nigeria. Of the four persons, three are travellers from Nigeria to other places while the fourth person was discovered in-country.

“Over the last few weeks, the PTF has been closely following the rising number of infections reported daily in Nigeria and in other jurisdictions. Similarly, our scientists have been sequencing the variants of the virus.

“There have been reports of cases with the B117 variant strain, first reported in the UK, found in Nigeria. Three of these were in travellers out of Nigeria and one a resident,” he said.

Mustapha appealed to Nigerians and school proprietors to take all precautionary measures against COVID-19.

He said in the last seven days 58,974 tests have been conducted, 11,179 cases recorded, 19.0 per cent tested positive, 62 deaths recorded, case fatality ratio starts at 0.6 per cent, and there are 23,568 active cases.

Mustapha said, “All these numbers represent increases from the previous seven days and we are looking at taking further public health containment measures in Local Government Areas that are considered a high burden. Punch