New COVID-19 Super Variant Found in SA

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa.

The country has recorded over 1,200 new Coronavirus infections in the past24 hours with the majority of new cases being from Gauteng (80%), followed by the Western Cape at 5%.

The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 with an “extremely high number” of mutations has been detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong.

Wits School of Governance, Professor Alex van den Heever told eNCA it is unclear if COVID-19 vaccines will work against the the new variant.

“It is worrying that such a variant has occurred. The real question is whether past infections as well as vaccines will still protect us against this particular variant.

Van den Heever says it is also unclear whether the new variant is more infectious than the Delta variant and spreads quicker.