Arthur Greene
A new variant of Covid-19, named C.1.2, has been detected in every province in the country.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa issued an alert about the “C.1.2 lineage” on Monday, but said that it is spreading at a low rate.
C.1.2 was first detected in Mpumalanga and Gauteng in May, towards the beginning of the country’s third wave of infections.
By June, it had reached KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, and had even shown up in the U.K. and China.
It has since spread to six other countries.
However, C.1.2 has not yet been deemed a “variant of concern” by the WHO, while tests are still underway to determine its infectiousness and vaccine resistance.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases issued the alert because C.1.2 contains mutations that have been seen in other variants, such as Delta that have gone on to become variants of interest or concern.
The institute said: “We are being cautious about the implications, while we gather more data to understand virus of this lineage.”
The deputy director-general of the Department of Health, Anban Pillay, told the Daily Maverick: “The scientists are looking at [the] in vitro effectiveness of our vaccines on this lineage. We expect some of the results to be available in the next couple of weeks.”
Image source: @_driver8
