Category: Africa
African Coronavirus News
WHO: Coronavirus pandemic at ‘critical point’ as cases rise exponentially
The Covid-19 pandemic is in a critical phase, the World Health Organization said Monday, warning cases were surging despite proven measures to rein in the spread. More...
Nigeria ditches AstraZeneca VaxZevria coronavirus vaccine in favour of Johnson & Johnson
The Nigerian government has quietly ditched the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine meant to vaccinate tens of millions of citizens, and will gradually shift to the Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, saying it is easier to administer. More...
A SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus lineage A variant (A.23.1) with altered spike has emerged and is dominating the current Uganda epidemic
February 2021: We report here newly emerging A sub-lineages, A.23 and A.23.1, encoding replacements in the spike protein, nsp6, ORF8 and ORF9, with A.23.1 the major virus lineage now observed in Kampala. More...
A novel variant of interest of SARS-CoV-2 with multiple spike mutations detected through travel surveillance [Angola/Tanzania]
“We detected a new VOI in three incoming travelers from Tanzania who were tested together at the airport in mid-February. More...
New coronavirus variant in Tanzania has “10 more mutations than have been found on any other version”
The most mutated variant of the coronavirus yet was found in travellers from Tanzania. More...
The South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants can now infect mice
Here we show that unlike the initial virus, VOCs are able to infect common laboratory mice, replicating to high titers in the lungs. More...
Efficacy of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine against the B.1.351 South African Variant
Study conclusions: A two-dose regimen of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 [AstraZeneca] vaccine did not show protection against mild-to-moderate Covid-19 due to the B.1.351 [South Africa ] variant. More...
South African coronavirus variant B.1.351 (501Y.V2) at around 15% in Saarland, Germany
German Federal Health Jens Spahn Minister of has expressed concern about the spread of the South African corona variant in Saarland . More...
Lancet: Surveillance of coronavirus in Zimbabwe shows dominance of variants of concern – B.1.351 (501Y.V2) and A.23.1
In December, 2020, 95 (89%) of 107 sequenced cases contained mutations of concern, rising to 102 (98%) of 104 in January, 2021. More...
Antibody resistance of coronavirus variants B.1.351 (SA) and B.1.1.7 (UK)
“Findings on B.1.351 [South Africa variant] are more worrisome in that this variant is not only refractory to neutralization by most NTD mAbs but also by multiple individual mAbs to the receptor-binding motif on RBD, largely owing to an E484K mutation. More...