A new variant of COVID-19 has been identified in South Africa. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says it's believed the second wave of COVID-19 is being driven by it. Courtesy #DStv403
JOHANNESBURG - A severe variant of the coronavirus detected in South Africa could explain the rapid spread of a second wave that affects younger people, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
Known as the 501.V2 Variant, it was identified by South African researchers and details have been sent to the World Health Organization, Mkhize said in a statement.
A team led by the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), has sequenced hundreds of virus samples since the pandemic began, and "noticed that a particular variant has increasingly dominated the findings of the samples collected in the past two months," he added.
Doctors have remarked that more patients are younger, and do not always have other conditions that amplify the virus' effect, but are nonetheless suffering from more severe forms of COVID-19.
That "strongly suggests that the current second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant," Mkhize concluded.
The research team, led by Tulio de Oliveira, has shared its findings with the scientific community and alerted authorities in Britain, who have "studied their own samples and found that a similar mutation ... was the variant that was driving their resurgence in London," he said.
Variants of the coronavirus have regularly been identified and called to the attention of global health officials.
Mkhize reiterated that the most effective way to fight back is to practice social distancing, wear face masks and wash your hands regularly.
More than 8,700 cases were detected there in the previous 24 hours, still well below the peak of around 12,000 per day seen in July.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim says the new COVID-19 variant is cause for concern. He says the second wave of COVID-19 is spreading faster than the first one. He adds that scientists don't know where the new variant originated. Courtesy #DStv403
