Experts are concerned about a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people.
young people in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province, Health Minister Joe Phaahla announced Thursday.
The World Health Organization’s technical working group was set to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether or not to give it a name from the Greek alphabet. The new variant has a “constellation” of new mutations, said Tulio de Oliveira, from the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, who has tracked the spread of the delta variant in the country.
De Oliveira said that a team of scientists from seven South African universities is studying the variant. They have 100 whole genomes of it and expect to have many more in the next few days, he said. “This is clearly a variant that we must be very serious about,” said Ravindra Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge. “It has a high number of spike mutations that could affect transmissibility and immune response.”
About 41% of South Africa’s adults have been vaccinated and the number of shots being given per day is relatively low, at less than 130,000, significantly below the government’s target of 300,000 per day.
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