Scientists have discovered a variant of coronavirus in the East African nation that has yet to be detected anywhere else in the world, the Daily Nation newspaper reported, citing Charles Agoti, a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
The variant was acquired in the south of Taita Taveta County and is spreading across the country. The institute’s researchers are still studying whether dissemination is easier and if it causes more serious diseases, according to the newspaper.
Since the start of the pandemic, the institute’s scientists have sequenced about 500 genomes, most of them collected during the second wave, according to Nation.