The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has come out to say that 55 different lineages of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are currently circulating in Nigeria.

The Director-General of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu recently revealed this to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the diversity of SARS-CoV-2 strains indicate multiple introductions of the virus into Nigeria from different parts of the world, and adds to evidence of community transmission in different states of Nigeria.

He added that a total of 29 cases with the B.1.1.7 variant strain, which was first described in the UK and shown to be linked to increasing transmissibility, have so far been detected in Nigeria.

His words “These strains were detected from cases in Lagos, FCT, Osun, Oyo, and Kwara and Edo States. All samples with the B.1.1.7 variant strain were collected from patients between November and January 2021.

“On the 11th of February, some recent SARS-CoV-2 genomes were seen to have distinct mutations and characterised as a new variant B.1.525.

“As at the 17th of February, these have been reported from United Kingdom (44), Denmark (35), Nigeria (30), United States of America (12), Canada (5), France (5), Ghana, Australia (2), Jordan (2), Singapore (1), Finland (1), Belgium (1) and Spain (1).”

“So far, this has been detected among cases in five states in Nigeria. B.1.525 cases have also been reported in other countries in travellers from Nigeria.”