New Covid-19 variant detected in SA
A new Covid-19 variant has been detected in South Africa.
According to eNCA the Variant B.1.1.529 has been found in Botswana and Hong Kong and has an extremely high number of mutations.
At this stage, experts say they are unsure if the current programme of Covid vaccines in SA will work against the new variant.Professor Alex van den Heever of the Wits School of Governance says it is still early days, so the question is out on whether this variant escapes the current vaccines in SA.”It is worrying that such a variant has occurred, but I think it is also inevitable in a way that we are going to see this. The real question is whether past variants and vaccines will still protect us against this particular variant. And I haven’t really seen any analysis of that yet,” he said.
Article by Se-Anne Rall and originally appeared in the Independent Online