Image via Radio Tamazuj

The coronavirus strain circulating in India has been detected in three African countries, according to the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bloomberg reported that authorities in Kenya, Uganda, and Morocco have announced the presence of the variant known as B.1.617. 

John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing Thursday that five cases have been found in Kenya and one in Uganda, while the Moroccan government is “investigating some cases there.”

Fearing an influx of infections and mindful of how transmissible the variant is, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are among countries that have temporarily banned flights from India. Covid-19 strains first detected in the U.K. and South Africa have been reported in 20 and 23 African nations respectively, according to Nkengasong.

African countries have administered 20.2 million of the 37.6 million vaccine doses they have received, covering 1.1% of the population of more than 1.3 billion, he said. - Radio Tamazuj