Uganda has confirmed the first case of the deadly Indian COVID-19 variant that was initially devastating the UK.

Ugandan media reported that the country’s COVID-19 Incident Commander Col Dr Henry Kyobe (pictured) had said the East African country had detected the stubborn strain of the virus, also known as the B.1.617.

“Variants of concern are those that change the epidemiology, transmission and effect on individuals. In that case, they might be more virulent and change from one age to the other. They might change in symptoms and in the worst case scenario therapeutics and vaccines may not be able to respond to them, but we have not yet seen that,” the Daily Monitor quotes him saying.

The health official added the variant is deadlier hence the necessity to strictly follow the health guidelines in place.

But according to the Ugandan Minister of Health Dr Jane Aceng, the variants develop over time and it could just be a matter of time and Uganda may soon face the same problem.

“There are five variants in the country.  You may also have your own home grown variants in a few months’ time. We shall be telling the status of those variants,” Dr Aceng said.

Should Uganda lock out the incoming flights from India, it will be the latest East African country to do so after Kenya, following the emergence of deadly variants of the virus in the Asian nation.

India has so far registered 19.9 million cases, 16.3 million recoveries and 219 deaths.