The dreaded SARS-CoV-1 disease known as COVID-19 may have staged a comeback in Nigeria, according to authorities at the National Obstetric Fistula Centre, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, southeast Nigeria.
A letter addressed to members of staff and patients of the hospital by the Head of Clinical Services, Dr. E.N. Yakubu warns of the presence of a new COVID variant he described as “BA.4 and BA.5 COVID Delta” which he claims is responsible for rising cases of COVID-like symptoms of “joint pain, headache, neck and upper back pain, general weakness, loss of appetite, and pneumonia…Sore throat that resembles strep throat” in the community. This variant he said, causes “no cough, no fever” symptoms.
Yakubu says the new disease is “more virulent and with a higher mortality rate” than the old standard COVID-19 and the new virus is more difficult to detect.
“Nasal swab tests are very often negative for COVID-19, and there are more and more false negative results from nasopharyngeal tests”, he warned.
Then he asked hospital staff and wards to avoid crowded places, keep safe distances from each other, wash their hands often, wear double face masks, and refrain from hugs as most carriers are asymptomatic – standard protocols associated with the COVID pandemic in 2019-2022.
It’s unclear if Mr. Yakubu has the authority to issue such an advisory. In Nigeria, the power to declare public health emergencies resides with the state or federal ministries of health.
But on 4 May 2023, the Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization had declared the official end of the COVID-19 pandemic saying, “It is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern”.
But elsewhere around the world like in Canada and the UK etc. there has been reports of resurgence of the disease.
The COVID pandemic was the world’s deadliest and scariest public health crisis of the last 100 years, causing millions of deaths and devastating global economies and world supply chains.
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