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But Mkhize criticized Hancock, saying his comments “have created the perception that the SA variant has been a major factor in the second wave in the UK.”
“This is not correct. There is evidence that the UK variant was developed earlier than the South African variant,” he said.
Mkhize said there was evidence of a Covid-19 variant in the UK that had been circulating since around September 20 in Kent, southeast England. This, the minister said, was “about a month before the South African variant appears to have developed.”
“This variant has a mutation that occurs at a common site with the South African variant (501), although they are two completely independent lineages. The UK variant is believed to be driving the second wave that the UK is currently experiencing. Furthermore , the UK variant has already been identified outside the UK, as reported by Professor Neil Ferguson, a leading British scientist who told the UK science and technology committee two days ago that evidence from Denmark, a country with a relatively low infection rate, it suggests that “The new variant of the virus identified in the UK is almost certainly already found in the ‘vast majority if not all’ European countries,” Mkhize said.
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