Covid-19

Maverick Citizen: Coronavirus

New variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly in SA – scientists and government closely monitoring and considering implications

New variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly in SA – scientists and government closely monitoring and considering implications
Illustrative image | sources: Chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 Professor Salim Abdool Karim. (Photo: Flickr/Women's Congressional Policy Institute) / Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. (Photo: Gallo Images/Deaan Vivier)

This evening, with much of South Africa having shifted from lockdown to holiday shutdown, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 called an unexpected press conference ‘to inform and present to the public new scientific developments and evidence that has been discovered on Covid-19’.

The briefing on Friday, 18 December, was addressed by Mkhize, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande, Prof Tulio de Oliveira (director of KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, or KRISP, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and Professor Salim Abdool-Karim, both members of the Consortium of Genomic Scientists. 

It focused on Mkhize’s announcement that “a variant 501.v2 has been identified here”, which has now been sequenced at various clinics.

Abdool-Karim, who co-chairs the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, revealed that they were confident that the second wave could be ascribed to this new variant which appears to be more potent and transmissible, although it is unclear whether it will cause higher mortality rates or more severe illness.

He said he was confident the vaccines in development would be effective in controlling this strain, while Mkhize assured that he had signed the guarantees for South Africa to procure its vaccines via the Covax partnership and that the money would reflect within the next two to three days.

Abdool-Karim was at pains to point out that this was a new variant or lineage, and not a new strain. 

Mkhize reported that linked to the discovery of the variant is evidence of “a shift in clinical and epidemiological picture, with more young people with no comorbidities presenting with serious illness in the course of the second wave”.

South Africa’s announcement follows a similar variant having been recently discovered in the United Kingdom (see here and here) and significant similarities that have been found with the South African variant.

Mkhize reported that the scientists had already briefed President Cyril Ramaphosa, but were yet to brief the Cabinet and members of the National Command Council.

Starting his presentation, Abdool-Karim called it “not good news” but said that it did not require a change in prevention strategies or diagnostic tools “at this point”.

According to De Oliveira there is now evidence of a “very rapid spread” of the 501.V2 variant. He called it a “new lineage of the virus that very quickly starts dominating the other lineages” – up to 90% of sequences were now dominated by this one. 

De Oliveira says that “genomic surveillance is a critical component of the public health response”. Surveillance up to now suggests that the variant started in Nelson Mandela Bay (for reasons not yet known), but has now been detected in KwaZulu-Natal (in  seven of 11 districts) and Cape Town. 

“We are quite confident that our sampling is random (and therefore accurate), said De Oliviera. He called it “concerning” that more rapid mutations (more rapid than normal in viruses) may cause a “functional difference” in that the virus behaves differently, causing different clinical manifestations and a disease course.

“We don’t know the answer at this time. But this is being monitored.”

According to both speakers, “the full significance of the variant is yet to be determined”. But scientists are worried about the possibility that the variant may affect the “binding of antibodies and vaccines on the virus”; that there is hard evidence of increased transmissibility, which means more infections and therefore more illness. 

Abdool-Karim, presenting on recent epidemiological surveillance, noted how the second wave “well and truly overshot the peak of the first wave in the Western Cape”. He said he was concerned that a higher viral load being picked in nasopharyngeal swabs may mean higher transmissibility.

Abdool-Karim cautioned that this was not a new strain, but a variation – an issue that has far less implications for diagnosis, treatment and vaccine development.

On the question of whether the 501.V2 variant leads to increased pathogenicity (whether it causes more severe illness) the scientists are “not sure”. Referring to mortality surveillance by the Medical Research Council going right up to early December, Karim said “There is no evidence yet … no red flags”.

Finally, the possible implications for the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines which have been based on the current genome of the virus is an area for further research and monitoring.

Mkhize concluded that it was “not a reason to panic” and that “we must loyally stick to non-pharmaceutical interventions”. These are mask-wearing, hand-washing and physical distancing; in other words, no gathering of significant numbers of people. He appealed to the media and scientists to handle this new development responsibly. 

Abdool-Karim assured that the findings would soon be published in a respected scientific journal. MC/DM

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • Patricia Sidley says:

    It would have been nice to have an explanation of the difference between a variant and a strain. i watched most of the press conference and this is a very good summary.

  • eric mair says:

    More panic and BS (bad science?)
    “They” are not sure about infectiousnes or transmissability – which is not new because “they” never have been – and unclear if the new variant is more dangerous.
    But never mind, just ratchet up a bit more panic because the proles are getting wise to the con job.

  • Ben van der Bank says:

    A new variation of the covid-19 virus of which no substantiated data is available. Sounds like a justification in the wake of pending legal action.

  • Charles Thatcher says:

    Prof Abdool-Carrim has an amazing ability to get straight to the point in his teachings regarding Covid-19. I know many members of the medical profession and the public who benefit enormously from his ability to explain and summarize this complex subject. His very first presentation on TV in March 2020 was a masterpiece which remains completely relevant right now, as well as his updates from time to time which have maintained this high standard.
    Health Minister Dr Mkhize showed enormous insight by choosing Prof Abdool-Carrim for his advisory group, in guiding the government and the nation.

  • Zach de Beer says:

    Since this “news” took over the headlines I have been looking at the international press, ZERO. If this was very important the WHO would have been dragged in a long time ago. I skip the details. what get’s me is that Zweli blames this”Variant, lineage etc” for the second wave. If one has the right information it is clear that we never really got over the first wave. The lowest daily case count since the first wave is 1 500 cases per day. Since the 3rd August the curve has been bending the wrong way, that is 4 months ago.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.