South African scientists have raised concerns about a new variant of COVID19 that has been detected in low numbers and are working to understand its potential impact.
The variant, named B.529, has a “very unusual constellation” of mutations that are worrying because they could help bypass the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, scientists said Thursday.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NiCd) said that 22 positive cases of the new variant were registered after genomic sequencing in the country.
“Unfortunately, we have discovered a new variant that is cause for concern in South Africa,” said Tulio de Oliveira of the Genomic Surveillance Network in South Africa at a press conference.
The variant “has a very high number of mutations,” he said. “Unfortunately, this leads to a resurgence of infections,” he added. It was also found in travelers from South Africa, in Botswana and Hong Kong, he said.
Health Secretary Joe Phaahla said the variant was “of great concern” and was behind an “exponential” increase in reported cases, making it a “major threat”.
Daily infections jumped to more than 1,200 on Wednesday, up from about 100 earlier this month.
Before the detection of the new variant, authorities had predicted a fourth wave to hit South Africa starting around the middle of December, buoyed by travel ahead of the festive season.
The NICD said in a statement on Thursday that detected cases and the percentage testing positive were “increasing quickly” in three of the country’s provinces including Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, the capital.
A cluster outbreak, concentrated at a higher education institute in Pretoria had recently been identified, the NICD said.
“Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be,” it said.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, South Africa has recorded about 2.95 million cases of COVID-19, of which 89,657 have been fatal.
