New type of COVID emerges with worrying spikes in South Africa – El Financiero
South African scientists said that select A new type of coronavirus that contains An alarming number of mutations.
The scientists noted in a research paper that the variant called “C.1.2” was first identified in May in South Africa’s Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces, where Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria are located. Since then, It is found in seven other countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe.
The scientists said mutations in the virus were “associated with increased transmissibility” and an increased ability to evade antibodies. “This lineage is important to highlight given the disturbing constellation of mutations.”
Changes in the virus have fueled successive waves of the coronavirus with the delta variant, which was first found in India, now driving up infection rates worldwide. Mutations are first classified as variants of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO). Once identified as more severe or transmissible, they are called variants of concern.
C.1.2 Evolution from C.1, Viral strain that dominated the infection in the first wave of the virus in South Africa mid 2020.
The research has been published by South African groups, including the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, known as Krisp, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
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