A new coronavirus variant, identified B.1.640.2, has been discovered in southern France, The french officials have claimed without proves that the virus originated from Cameroon, according to a study. 12 COVID-19 patients have already been infected with this new variant.
cameroon’s minister of public health has called these allegations as unfounded. In a presse release on January 05 2022, the Minister stresses that there are no proves the virus originated in Cameroon. He insist Cameroon Cameroon’s coronavirus statistics are far below African and global rates
The press release reads
The Minister of Public Health, Dr. MANAOUDA Malachie, informs the nationaland international public that information circulating in several media and social networksreports the identification of a new variant of the COVID-19 Virus , SARS COV2 whichoriginates from Cameroon.This information comes from an approximate summary of a “pre-print” typedocument, that is, a presentation of unvalidated scientific data. The preliminaryanalysis of the data presented shows major shortcomings in the methodologicalapproach leading to the resulting assertions. As a result, these documents have atthis stage no scientific evidence status.This is a presentation of eight cases of COVID-19 (3 adults and 5 children)carrying viruses whose sequence and clinical and biological elements presented, at thisstage, do not make it a variant. Moreover, only one of the eight cases is presented ashaving made a trip to Cameroon without the chronology of events making it possible toestablish a relationship between the said trip and the alleged infection.Moreover, no chronological sequence of infections of the eight patients ispresented, nor any element of contact analysis allowing the person who traveled toCameroon to be considered as an index case bordering on a simple stigmatization ofour country.To date, neither the international scientific and health authorities, nor theCameroonian Scientific Council have provided any validation and do not confirm thetransparency of the approach of the teams authoring the communication in question.Cameroon has 24 PCR laboratories and 4 sequencing platforms enabling it todiagnose cases of COVID-19 infection and to participate with dignity in internationalscientific efforts for epidemiological and genomic surveillance, with the transparencyand promptness required in the event of a global public health threat. It is regrettablethat we have not received from the research teams, author of the communication inquestion, any information or request for follow-up of contacts of the patient presentedas index case, suggesting the primacy of the buzz over a possible interest of globalpublic health for authors.On the eve of a major sporting event of global scope organized in our country, theMinister of Public Health wishes to reassure the national and international public andthe entire sporting community of the rigor of the epidemiological and genomicsurveillance measures taken by the Government of the Republic and that the pandemicsituation is under control with, to date less than 1000 active cases, including 115hospitalizations and 24 people on oxygen, representing a recovery rate of 97% and casefatality rate of 1, 7%, well below the African and world prepages.