Possible new Covid variant 'circulating in at least 7 provinces in SA'
Scientists in South Africa say they're are closely monitoring a possible new Covid-19 variant that's been detected during the third wave of Covid-19 infections.
They say the C.1.2 strain was identified in May this year.
Professor Tulio de Oliveira, a UKZN molecular biologist specialising in virus genomics, says at this stage, they know the strain stems from the (C.1) lineage that emerged during the first wave before going dormant.
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"The C.1.2 it is circulating in at least seven provinces in South Africa, but at the moment at low prevalence.
"It has many mutations that is similar to the Beta variant and the Gamma variant.
"The Beta 1 was driving the second wave. These mutations potentially could reduce a little bit the effect of the vaccines.
"So it is very important to keep track of these lineages that have a large number of mutations."
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De Oliveira says they have discussed it with the World Health Organisation about two weeks ago and given some advice.
"We should wait and strengthen genomic surveillance to see it's increasing prevalence. If it starts increasing prevalence then would be by the World Health Organisation as a variant of interest."
