Recently published research has revealed that the new Covid-19 variant C.1.2 has been identified in South Africa.

According to the researchers, there are concerns that this SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest (VOI) has been associated with increased transmissibility, neutralisation resistance, and disease severity.

"Here we report the identification of a potential variant of interest assigned to the Pango Lineage C.1.2," the preprint analysis published last week read.

The Pango, which stands for Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Linages, refers to the software tool for sequence assignment used by researchers to track the transmission and spread of Covid-19.

"This lineage was first identified in May 2021 and evolved from C.1, one of the lineages that dominated the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections in South Africa and were last detected in January 2021."

According to KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) Director at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Professor Tulio de Oliveira, this was the work of dozens of scientists as part of the Network of Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA).

"The preprint analysis was led by National Institute for Communicable Diseases and KRISP," he said, adding that it also involves young women scientists, including Catherine Scheepers, who is the first author.

"The reason why we decided to publish the preprint is that we see the C.1.2 persistence in South Africa and is now in another 10 countries. It is early days as only 95 genomes have been published at GISAID. However, we found that in this pandemic, [it is crucial to] share info quicker than later," the Professor explained.

Also read: '80% of South Africans may have had Covid-19' - Discovery

Read more of this post