They discovered a new variant of coronavirus in South Africa, which is worrying about the number of mutations – PRAVDA.sk

Researchers in the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) have detected a new variant of the coronavirus, which is worrying about its high number of mutations.

However, the frequency of this variant is not yet high, AFP and Bloomberg reported on Tuesday night.

A new coronavirus variant known as C.1.2. was first detected in South Africa in May and has since spread to most of the country’s provinces, as well as to several other countries around the world, including Switzerland and Portugal, Bloomberg said.

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This coronavirus variant evolved from variant C.1, which dominated South Africa last year during the first wave of the pandemic. Variant C.1.2. is 44 to 59 mutations away from the original coronavirus variant first detected in China last year.

In addition, according to scientists, “this branch of the virus has a worrying set of mutations.” It also contains mutations, which are associated with high infectivity and resistance to antibodies, but scientists do not yet have enough data to determine how highly contagious and resistant to vaccination, Reuters reports.

However, this variant does not yet exist to such an extent that it can be classified as a “variant of interest” or “worrying variant”, such as the more contagious delta variants (first revealed in India) and the beta, which appeared last year in South Africa.

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South Africa is one of the countries in Africa that has been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. In total, there have been more than 2.7 million cases and approximately 81,830 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. In South Africa, as in many other countries, the more contagious delta variant currently dominates, displacing the original local beta variant.