By CGTN Africa
Kenyan scientists have raised an alarm on a coronavirus variant they say differs from the one spreading in South Africa and Britain
According to Voice of America News, about 10 investigators from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) discovered the COVID-19 mutation.
Charles Agoti, a principal investigator and researcher, says that the variant is unique to Kenya and was detected in a batch of samples taken from Taita Taveta county, located in the southeastern part of the country.
“Our interpretation is that because in this one place in Kenya we were seeing, it represents the majority of the sequenced samples; it does imply that actually, it could if it has intrinsic properties, be more transmissible,” Agoti said.
“It could result in an increase in the number of cases locally.”
Between June and October of last year, KEMRI sequenced around 205 genomes in the coastal region and further identified around 16 circulating mutations all of which have so far have proven harmless.
Agoti told VOA that at this stage, the variant will not have an impact on the effectiveness of new coronavirus vaccines.
“I think it’s unlikely this is just only one change in the about 1,200 amino acids-long spike protein, so still there are very many other bits of the virus which the current vaccines target and can be able to neutralize the virus effectively,” Agoti said.
According to the World Health Organization, these variants of concern which are on the rise in 47 countries in Africa may impact a person’s immune response and need to be investigated further.
Health officials around the world worry that if the virus changes enough, people might get COVID-19 a second time. Reinfection currently is rare, but Brazil already confirmed a case in someone with a new variant who had been sickened with a previous version several months earlier.
