A new corona variant has been discovered in Angola.
Experts are so far unsure of the effects.
The virus variant is now being investigated in South Africa.
Johannesburg - "The continent is slowly moving towards a third wave, which is to be expected," said the head of the pan-African health agency Africa CDC, John Nkengasong, at a press conference Thursday.
A new version of the corona is now worrying the experts in Africa.
According to the health organization in Angola, it was discovered in travelers from Tanzania.
New Corona variant discovered in Africa: health authority sees "cause for concern"
"That is certainly a variant that gives cause for concern," warned Nkengasong.
The new variant of the corona virus has up to 40 mutations, he continued.
Many of them are in parts of the virus that are relevant for the immune response in humans.
However, it is not yet clear what effects these mutations actually have.
The new virus variant is now being examined in a laboratory in South Africa, said the head of the Africa CDC.
"Unfortunately, we don't know how this variant reacts to vaccines," said Nkengasong.
A surveillance system has now been set up in Tanzania's neighboring countries.
The country in East Africa has not released any data about the Corona situation there since the middle of last year.
Currently there is also no information on the exact number of corona cases there, said the Africa CDC.
Corona in Africa: Numbers in Central, East and North Africa are increasing
According to the pan-African health authority, the “British” virus variant B.1.1.7 has now been detected in 18 African countries, the “South African” corona variant B.1.351 also in 18 countries.
While western and southern Africa in particular are currently still registering declining numbers of new corona infections, the corona numbers are rising above all in central, east and north Africa.
According to the Africa CDC, there have been around 4.2 million corona infections across the continent, more than 1.5 million of them in South Africa.
In addition, there have been 112,000 deaths across Africa so far.
According to experts, however, there is a high number of unreported cases on the continent with 1.3 billion people.
+
So far, around a third of the almost 30 million corona vaccine doses procured in Africa have been administered - here in Malawi.
(Archive image)
© Joseph Mizere / dpa
Corona in Africa: CDC director puts great hope in vaccinations
Nkengasong has great hopes for the corona vaccinations.
He welcomed the fact that Africa would also be producing its own vaccines in the future.
The basis for this is an agreement between the African Union and the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson for a total of 400 million doses.
A large part of it is to be produced in South Africa.
The agreement initially provides for the purchase of 220 million cans with the option of 180 million more.
However, the CDC director warned of the adverse effects of delivery restrictions from India, which also slowed the UN Covax initiative for rapid vaccine delivery to poorer countries.
"Any delay will prevent Africa from achieving its goals quickly," he said.
Covax will look around for other sources of procurement.
So far, the African countries have procured almost 30 million doses of corona vaccine, about a third of which have been inoculated.
List of rubric lists: © Joseph Mizere / dpa