30 Sep Meeting to detect SARS-COV-2 variants in Equatorial Guinea
The Swiss Institute of Public Health, the Baney Research Laboratory and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Equatorial Guinea met last Wednesday, September 29, 2021 to update the data on the variants of SARS-COV-2 in Equatorial Guinea , from March 2020 to September 2021.
At the African level, great efforts are being made to monitor the evolution of Sars-CoV-2 mutations. In a large pan-African study recently published on the evolution of strains on the continent, Equatorial Guinea has participated with the sequencing of more than 186 samples. A great contribution if one takes into account the importance of the study and the per capita population weight. In this study, the genetic evolution of the different variables of Sars-CoV-2 in the continent is counted: Alpha from Wuhan (China), Beta from South Africa, Gamma from Brazil and Delta from India.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, all positive samples have been kept in the Baney Laboratory for genetic sequencing and surveillance,” explained Dr. Claudia Daubenberger, from the Department of Medical Parasitology and Infectious Biology at the Swiss Institute of Public Health.
The results of this collaboration show that, in the 18 months of genomic surveillance, there have been three waves in our country caused by three SARS-COV-2 mutations. The first wave (from early 2020 to September 2020) was caused by the Alpha variant of Wuhan, the second (from December 2020 to March 2021) by the Beta mutation and the current third wave (which is already a global phenomenon ) is due to the Delta variant that arrived in Equatorial Guinea in June 2021 and has spread rapidly among communities.
It is extremely important to strictly continue with preventive measures in public health and advance the vaccination process in as many people as possible. The vaccine minimizes symptoms, helps avoid complications in the event of a future infection, and reduces contagion.