India has said a "double mutant variant" of the coronavirus first discovered there in March may be linked to a deadly second wave.
Samples containing the mutant - or B.1.617 variant - have been found in several states with high case numbers.
An official with the National Centre for Disease Control said, however, that they had still been unable to fully establish a correlation.
A double mutant is when two mutations come together in the same virus.
Prof. Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, says that about 260,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state.
He said the second phase of vaccination would start soon and warned that Nigeria stood the risk of experiencing a third wave, having vaccinated only less than one per cent of its population.
According to him, health facilities in Lagos State have been placed on high alert to pick up early trends that may suggest a third wave of COVID-19.
”Currently, countries like India, Brazil, Argentina, Iraq, Qatar, Peru and Uruguay are being ravaged by a vicious third or fourth wave following a less active and insignificant second or third wave.
”The latest wave in India has been proven to be as a result of new mutant strains that have resulted in a dramatic increase in sickness and deaths for two weeks running.
”Whilst we commiserate with these countries, it is important that we protect our environment and residents against this virus, especially as we have less than one per cent of our population that have received their first dose of the Oxford Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine similar to India that has about eight per cent,” he said.
The commissioner said that Lagos was working toward ensuring a 60 per cent herd immunity, representing 14 million people to be achieved.
He said that among steps being taken to curb a third wave of the virus included aggressive testing, including mutant PCR testing to identify the particular virus strain.
”It also included the deployment of technology (EKOTELEMED) to track and monitor inbound travellers; enforcing non-pharmaceutical interventions; increase in oxygen supply and vaccination,” he noted.
Abayomi said that of the 123 passengers of interest tracked between April 13 and April 27, 110 (89 per cent) were called by EKOTELEMED, with only 39 per cent reached and tracked.
He said that 66 per cent had Lagos as their final destination, while about 28 per cent filled in no address in Nigeria or filled in a foreign address.
The commissioner further said that the total samples tested so far was 460,647, with 58,222 confirmed positive.
He added that of this number, 168,312 (37 per cent) were tested in public laboratories while 292,335 (63 per cent) were tested in private laboratories.
India on Tuesday confirmed more than 20 million coronavirus infections in the official total, though the figure is believed to be a vast undercount.
A vicious surge in Covid-19 cases has left the country’s healthcare system at breaking point, with hospitals running out of oxygen and nearly all hospital beds occupied.
The country has witnessed scenes of people dying outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has called for a nationwide lockdown as the country’s tally of coronavirus infections surged past 20 million, becoming the second nation after the United States to pass the grim milestone.
“The only way to stop the spread of Corona now is a full lockdown… GOI’s inaction is killing many innocent people,” Congress MP Gandhi said on Twitter, referring to the government of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is reluctant to impose a national lockdown due to the economic fall out, yet several states have imposed various social restrictions.
Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in the United States, said he is concerned that Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in the next few days.
“I’ve been … trying to say to them, ‘If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next several weeks. And it may be much longer,’” he said.
Jha said the focus needs to be on “classic” public health measures: targeted shutdowns, more testing, universal mask-wearing and avoiding large gatherings. “That is what’s going to break the back of this surge,” he said.
India’s COVID-19 death toll surged past 200,000 on Wednesday as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new cases of the virus.
India’s second wave of COVID-19 infections has seen at least 300,000 people a day test positive for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international response.
In the past 24 hours, 360,960 new cases were recorded, the largest single-day total in the world, taking India’s total to nearly 18 million. A further 3,293 deaths, the deadliest day so far, took the death toll to 201,187.
Experts believe the official tally vastly under-estimates the actual toll in the country of 1.3 billion.
In the capital, New Delhi, ambulances lined up for hours to take COVID-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots, where bodies burned on rows of funeral pyres.
Coronavirus sufferers – many struggling for breath – flocked to a Sikh temple on the outskirts of the city, hoping to secure some of the limited supplies of oxygen available there.
Police said a fire early on Wednesday at a hospital on the outskirts of Mumbai killed four people and injured several more.
Accidents at hospitals have been of grave concern for the country which is running short of beds and oxygen supplies. Last week a fire broke out at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients and a leaking oxygen tank at another hospital led to the deaths of 22 people.
Supplies of life-saving oxygen and equipment have begun arriving in New Delhi, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more dispatched from Ireland, Germany and Australia.
Several countries have suspended flights from India, taking steps to keep out more virulent variants of the virus.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he had spoken at length with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including as to when the United States would be able to ship vaccines to the country, and said it was his clear intention to do so.
I think we’ll be in a position to be able to share, share vaccines as well as know-how with other countries who are in real need. That’s the hope and expectation,” he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department’s coordinator for global COVID-19 response, Gayle Smith, warned India’s challenge will require a sustained effort:
“We all need to understand that we are still at the front end of this. This hasn’t peaked yet.”
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