The Minister of Public Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda has allayed fears of the presence of the UK variant of the Covid-19 in Cameroon.

According to the Centre for Disease Control, the new UK variant which was first detected in 2020, emerged with an unusually large number of mutations and seems to spread more easily and quickly than other variants. It has since been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States and Canada.

Authorities in Cameroon have equally been taking preventive measures to avoid the importation of this variant.

Over 200 suspected samples recently and collected and analysed for the variant but all proved negative as Cameron remains safe from the variant.

“As part of the monitoring of the mutant covid strain, we sent 216 samples collected between March and December 2020 to a reference laboratory for sequencing. The results show that the UK variant is not yet circulating in Cameroon,” the Minister of Public Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda said.

He has however stressed the need for the population to continue respecting barrier measures while airports continue to tighten safety measure in order to avoid not only the importation of the UK variant but the virus in general. According to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), as of January 11, 2021, Cameroon is the 7th most affected country in Africa, with 26,848 post-tested cases and 448 confirmed deaths.