RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – South Africa has detected a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, causing Covid-19, which is apparently driving the second wave of the disease in the country, South African authorities said on Monday. The variant is different from that found in the United Kingdom.
Called 501.V2, the variant was first detected in recent months in the Eastern Cape and has since spread to other South African provinces.
The collected evidence “strongly suggests that the second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant,” said South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize last Friday.
Professor Ian Sanne, a member of the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said on Monday that this is a new variant, not a new strain.
“A new strain would raise much greater concerns over all the hard work accomplished so far. Basically, we would be back to square one and we would be linking with a new virus strain circulating worldwide. But this is not the case. It’s a variant and it contains some genetic changes, it represents a viral evolution”, Sanne stressed.
The emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom this weekend forced the British authorities to implement harsh restrictions in much of the country due to the alarming increase in Covid-19 cases. Several countries have banned flights from the UK.
Sanne, a specialist in infectious diseases, pointed out that the South African variant is different from the one identified in the United Kingdom. “This variant is not the same as the United Kingdom variant. There are two different viruses, but they are different variants of the same strain of the coronavirus,” he explained.
The new South African variant is more transmissible and contains a higher viral load, according to the expert, but it is still unknown if it is more dangerous. “This has not yet been established, but we are witnessing much higher case and transmission rates. Cases have skyrocketed. That means people need to protect themselves. This means disinfecting hands, wearing masks, avoiding unnecessary inter-province travel,” he concluded.
The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, decreed new restrictions on December 14th in an attempt to halt the second wave of Covid-19 and warned that, should they not be complied with, “this will be the last Christmas for many South Africans.”
South Africa is the country most affected by the pandemic in the continent, with 921,922 Covid-19 cases registered, and 24,691 deaths.