New variant of coronavirus detected in South Africa | Coronavirus

This “501.V2 variant” of the virus has been identified by South African researchers and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), Minister Mkhize announced in a statement.

This team has sequenced hundreds of samples from across the country since the pandemic began in March and “noticed that one particular variant dominates the results of the past two months,” he explained.

In addition, South African physicians noted an evolution in the epidemiological landscape, with a greater number of younger patients, without comorbidities, developing severe forms of the disease.

All the elements “strongly indicate that the second wave we are going through is driven by this new variant,” added the minister.

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The South African team of researchers, led by Professor Tulio de Oliveira (KRISP Center, University of Kwazulu-Natal), shared their observations with the scientific community, allowing UK researchers to “study their own samples and find a variant similar, “potentially involved in the rampant transmission observed in some areas of the country, according to the minister.

This is not the first time that SARS-CoV-2 mutations have been observed and reported around the world and Minister Mkhize said such a rapid second wave was not expected.

In addition to the possible acceleration of infections associated with this variant, the arrival of summer and the fatigue resulting from the first wave caused a certain relaxation of precautionary measures.

South Africa, officially the most affected country on the African continent, reports 24,285 deaths and more than 900,000 cases, more than 8,700 of which have been detected in the last 24 hours. At the worst moment of the first wave, in July, the daily number of cases was 12 thousand.

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