Brief: COVID-19 variants in West Africa, Ghana in particular

According to data compiled by the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) at the time of writing, there had been 423,100 cases, 385,869 recoveries and 5,547 deaths from COVID-19 in Western African countries . Of that number, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire account for the vast majority – in line with population size and testing.

While this ‘feels’ like an underrepresentation, given the perspectives of sources in certain key health institutions, the region’s relative outperformance thus far appears robust (and historically significant[1]). Furthermore, all three countries have now begun receiving vaccine doses.

With that said, the number of vaccines received are small in comparison to what is required to protect the population. Meanwhile, new variants of the disease are emerging.

For example, the Biotech company Yemaachi sequencing COVID-19 strains in Ghana provides the following information: Of 422 test cases, 32% were B.1.1.7, the variant first discovered in the UK, 9% were B.1 discovered in Algeria/Morocco, and 5% were B.1.5.2.5 discovered in Nigeria. The remainder are strains without any additional clinical significance above that of the original strain. See here for Yemaachi’s Sequencing for COVID mitigation in Ghana.

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[1] For example, the Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 million people a century ago including 100,000 or 0.2% in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). By comparison, Ghana’s 725 reported deaths from coronavirus are 0.03% of the reported global total.

** Photo credit: Unsplash

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