INTERNATIONAL: South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, the announcement came out on Thursday. Officials characterise the variant, which has double the number of mutations as the currently dominant Delta variant, as the "worst one yet".
Scientists called the new Covid variant as B.1.1.529. They say it has a "very unusual constellation" of mutations, which are concerning because they could help it evade the body's immune response and make it more transmissible. It has double the number of mutations as the currently dominant Delta variant.
Early signs from diagnostic laboratories suggest the variant have rapidly increased in the most populated province of Gauteng and may already spread to eight other provinces.
In a regular daily update on confirmed cases countrywide, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases later reported 2,465 new COVID-19 infections, slightly less than double the previous day's infections. The NICD did not attribute the latest resurgence to the new variant, although some leading local scientists suspect it is the cause.
South Africa has confirmed around 100 specimens as B.1.1.529, but the variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong case from a traveler from South Africa. As many as 90 percent of new cases in Gauteng could be B.1.1.529, scientists believe.
The data are limited, but experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be.
South Africa has requested an urgent sitting of a World Health Organization working group on virus evolution on Friday to discuss the new variant. South Africa was the first country to detect the Beta variant last year.
Beta is one of only four labelled "of concern" by the WHO because there is evidence that it is more contagious and vaccines work less well against it.
Meanwhile, Britain has made an announcement that they are much concern by a newly identified coronavirus variant spreading in South Africa on Thursday, which might make vaccines less effective and imperil progress made across the world fighting the pandemic.
Britain is temporarily banning flights from six African countries which will be included to the COVID-19 travel red-list. Those countries are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Britain’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid says, “Our scientists are deeply concerned about this variant. I'm concerned, of course, and that's one of the reasons we've taken this action today. I will say we don't know enough about this variant. No one does. I think probably the UK knows more than most because of the excellent work we do on surveillance, but I think it is right that we take this approach and we remain cautious.”
The UK Health Security Agency said that the variant - called B.1.1.529 - has a spike protein that was dramatically different to the one in the original coronavirus that COVID-19 vaccines are based on.
It was only first identified at the start of the week but Britain rushed to introduce travel restrictions on South Africa and five neighbouring countries, acting much more swiftly than with previous variants. Javid has claimed that more data was needed but the travel restrictions were necessary as a precaution.
