Professor links lower risk of contracting Covid-19 in Nigeria to Blood Group “O’’

Professor Temitope Alonge, Coordinator, Oyo State Covid-19 Isolation Centres, said studies conducted on Covid-19 sufferers indicated that people with ‘O’ blood group might not even suffer severe illnesses including organ complications.

Mr. Alonge told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday, that blood Group O, which is significantly represented among African populations, might explain the reason why Africa had fared better than the West since the emergence of Covid-19.

“Many Africans have blood Group O. This may explain why the severity of Covid-19 infections is low in Nigeria. This is apart from the availability of Vitamin D from sunshine,’’ he said.

Vitamin D is called “the sunshine vitamin’’. When the skin is exposed to sunlight, it makes vitamin D from cholesterol. The sun’s ultraviolet rays hit cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the energy for vitamin D synthesis to occur, he said.