South African scientists detect new coronavirus variant

Published By : Prameya News Bureau | September 02, 2021 IST

Johannesburg, South Africa: South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has said. However, they are yet to establish whether the variant is more contagious or able to overcome the immunity provided by vaccines or prior infection. The variant, known as C.1.2., was flagged last week by the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation and Sequencing Platform in a preprint study that has yet to be peer reviewed. NICD scientists said C.1.2 was only present at very low levels and that it was too early to predict how it might evolve. It has so far been detected in less than three percent of genomes sequenced since it was first picked up in May -- although this has increased from 0.2 to two percent last month. "At this stage, we do not have experimental data to confirm how it reacts in terms of sensitivity to antibodies," NICD researcher Penny Moore said. So far C.1.2 has been detected in all nine of South Africa's provinces, as well as in other parts of the world including China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Britain.

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