A Nigerian university has gained a new understanding of the COVID-19 virus, which could be very important in combating its continued spread.
What the Nigerian University discovered
The Chemo-Genomics Research Institute of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, CRIA, in collaboration with the ABUAD Multi-system Hospital, AMSH, have discovered why humans are more vulnerable to infections by the new variant of COVID-19, popularly known as N501Y SARS-CoV-2 mutant.
One of the reasons provided by the bio-medical scientists and researchers, led by Dr Olaposi Omotuyi, is that the new variant is 80 times more effective at binding to human cells and is characterized by faster human-to-human transmission, more rapid progression of symptoms and death.
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Since the country is not on total lockdown, the scientists and researchers from the Nigerian university advised that people adhere to the laid down non-pharmacologic preventive procedures.
This scientific breakthrough becomes more important and germane bearing in mind the coming of the second wave of COVID-19, which boasts more deaths and infection than the parent pandemic.
According to Omotuyi, these findings should therefore serve as a wake-up call for enforcement of COVID-19 protocol by all institutions, stressing that personal protection must be enforced at all times at the level of individuals.
