THE Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has revealed that Nigerians have some natural immunity against the COVID-19 variants if they take their vaccine doses and strictly adhere to non-pharmaceutical measures such as using nose masks and avoiding crowded spaces.
The Centre said in response to the current spike in cases, hospitalisations and deaths from the disease in China, the UK, South Africa, the United States of America, India and others that the virus continued to follow a different epidemiological course in Nigeria and most of Africa.
The Centre further disclosed that the country-targeted travel restrictions, including requests for PCR-negative tests from incoming travellers, had little or no effect on preventing the global and national circulation of Omicron – the virus variant – since it emerged with its relatives in 2021.
According to a statement it issued on Wednesday, the NCDC explained that other Omicron sub-lineages associated with increases in cases, admissions and deaths elsewhere did not cause the same in Nigeria, as confirmed by its genomics surveillance.
It blamed the current surge partly on the usual winter exacerbations of respiratory illnesses.
The Centre promised to convene a stakeholders meeting and decide on further measures to curtain the virus in the country soon.
The ICIR reports that Nigeria recorded its first case of the disease on February 27, 2020, and locked down some states on March 30 that year, as infections from the virus spiralled nationwide.
Among other measures, President Muhammadu Buhari constituted the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and approved emergency procurements of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures to combat the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, Nigeria had recorded 266,450 cases of the virus and 3,155 deaths from the virus.
The global cases stood at 666,223,747, and deaths were 6,701,814.
The NCDC said regardless of COVID-19 variants in different parts of the world, severe disease, admissions and deaths disproportionately affect the unvaccinated and those with established risk factors, namely older people, people with co-morbidities and the immunocompromised.
It noted that the most important action for Nigerians was to get vaccinated against COVID-19, “as the vaccine is the most important intervention for preventing severe disease, hospitalisation, and death.”
The NCDC said before the recent case increase in China, the USA, the UK and other countries, genomic surveillance had shown that the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant and its lineages continued to dominate in recorded infections worldwide.
But the rise in the new Omicron sub-lineages XBB.1.5 in the UK and the US, and BF.7 in China raises concern as it may spread faster than older Omicron sub-lineages (e.g., XBB or BQ) and that they are responsible in part for current increases in cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.
However, the sublineage seen with cases in China, B.5.2.1 and BF.7 are responsible for the surge in China and does not appear to be increasing unusually in other countries, the Centre explained.
“The NCDC continues to strengthen genomic surveillance of the COVID-19 virus in Nigeria. Since the detection of the Omicron variant in December 2021, its sub-lineage (BQ.1/BQ.1.1) has been dominant in Nigeria. None of these dominant sub-lineages in Nigeria that are also circulating elsewhere has been associated with any increases in case numbers, admissions, or deaths locally.
“The sub-lineages partly responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases in other countries i.e., XBB.1.5 and BF.7 have not yet been detected in the country but B.5.2.1 has been seen here since July 2022 and the others are most likely here already. BF.7 and XBB have also been circulating in South Africa since October 2022 but without any accompanying increase in cases, severe illness, or deaths.”
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]