New Covid-19 variant, likely more infectious, detected in South Africa: study

A new variant of Covid-19 virus has been detected in South Africa and many other countries, which could be more infectious and evade protection provided by vaccines, according to a joint study by scientists of India and South Africa.

Scientists from National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) in South Africa said the potential variant of interest C.1.2, was first detected in South Africa in May this year.

C.1.2 has since been found in China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, England, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland as of August 13, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting the study.

According to the yet-to-be peer-reviewed study posted on the preprint repository MedRxiv on August 24, C.1.2 has mutated substantially compared to C.1, one of the lineages which dominated the SARS-CoV-2 infections in the first wave in South Africa.

The new variant has more mutations than other variants of concern (VOCs) or variants of interest (VOIs) detected worldwide so far, the researchers said.

The researchers noted that the number of available sequences of C.1.2 may be an underrepresentation of the spread and frequency of the variant in South Africa and around the world.

The study found consistent increases in the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa each month, rising from 0.2 percent of genomes sequenced in May to 1.6 percent in June and then to 2 percent in July.

According to the study, C.1.2 lineage has a mutation rate of about 41.8 mutations per year, which is about twice as fast as the current global mutation rate of the other variants.

Indian virologist Upasana Ray noted that the variant is a result of numerous mutations accumulated in C.1.2 line in the spike protein which makes it a lot different than the original virus that was identified in Wuhan, China in 2019.

"It could be more transmissible and has potential to spread fast. Since there are so many mutations in the spike protein, it could result in immune escape and thus a challenge for the vaccination drive worldwide if allowed to spread," Ray from Kolkata's CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, said.

Ray, however, was not involved in the study.