Ministry of Health said on Friday that the new UK COVID variant, SARS-CoV-2, has been identified during sequencing in positive specimens at the Gambian National Public Health Laboratory Services.
“The public may note that, this new strain of the virus has been found in other countries namely, South Africa and Brazil, and may continue to be found in any other country,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the discovery of this variant does not change the current public health strategies and recommendations.
The statement pointed out that the new variant is thought to be more contagious, than the viral strains currently in wide circulation and called for reinforcing the importance of wearing a mask, social distancing outside homes and quarantining of people exposed to positive cases.
“It may be noted that, whist it has been found difficult to know whether one has the new strain, preliminary studies have indicated that, the COVID-19 vaccines currently developed and used in some countries are effective against the variant strain. It is therefore important to protect ourselves and others by adhering to the measures instituted by Health officials,” the statement said.
It said the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Medical Research Council and London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in The Gambia, will continue to collect and isolate the common COVID-19, the new variant and any other form of strain by strict observance of standard procedures.
“The Ministry of Health assures the general public that, COVID- 19 tests conducted in The Gambia by the National Public Health Laboratory and the Medical Research Council and London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in The Gambia are effective and safe, thus urges all to utilise these two facilities for testing and certification of COVID-19 samples.”
