Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: The South African variant of Covid-19, two cases of which have now been detected in the UK, is likely to be more transmissible, may affect young people more, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists in South Africa believe. However, research is still continuing to confirm the threat posed by the variant, which does not appear to cause more severe symptoms or require different treatment. There are also some fears that the larger individual mutations of the South African variant could “re-infect” people who have already contracted the virus and have recovered.
Scientists in South Africa are still working “calmly and methodically” to fully understand the new variant, known as 501Y.V2. Scientists have already compared data on the South African variant, which has spread across a swath of the country, with the UK variant detected last week. “By putting our data together with that of the UK, this [South African] The variant is a bit more effective at spreading from person to person and that’s not good. It means we have to improve a bit to stop it, ”said Dr. Richard Lessells, one of the specialists leading the research on the new variant in South Africa.
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