Researchers detect Covid variant unique to Kenya

Scientists have discovered a coronavirus variant in the East African Nation that is yet to be detected elsewhere in the world, the Daily Nation newspaper reported, citing Charles Agoti, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

The variant was picked up in the southern Taita Taveta county and is spreading around the Nation. According to the newspaper, researchers at the institute are still studying whether it’s more easily spread and if it causes more severe illness.

Since the onset of the pandemic, scientists at the institute have sequenced about 500 genomes, most of them collected during the second wave, according to the Nation.