Coronavirus: New variants spread more efficiently; cases likely to rise – WACCBIP warns

Director of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), Professor Gordon Awandare, has revealed that the new variants of the coronavirus were not “deadlier”, however, they spread faster as he called for strict adherence to the safety protocols to reduce the spread if results show they have been recorded in the general populace.

Addressing the nation on the fight against COVID-19 in his 22nd update about a week ago, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo revealed that Ghana has recorded its first case of the new Covid-19 variant.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, Professor Awandare says the new strain of Covid-19 detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) may not be deadly but it has a higher transmissible rate than the previous strain.

“The new variants spread more efficiently meaning the covid numbers will be escalating more quickly. Secondly, we don’t know how it affects the severity of the disease in our population. In other places, the severity of the cases wasn’t reported but recently these places have reported back on the severity on the disease”.

He added that people with the disease who show mild symptoms could have their symptoms worsened should the new strain find its way in the communities.

“People who will usually have mild symptoms could have severe symptoms and require hospitalization so we need to be monitoring that by doing sequencing to match the variants with the clinical conditions.”

Meanwhile, genome sequencing on the new strain which usually takes 7-10 days is being carried out by WACCBIP.