Rabat- A new COVID-19 strain, the C.1.2 variant, which has been detected in South Africa, among other countries, is likely to be more infectious than previous COVID-19 strains, according to a study by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform.
The C.1.2 variant was first detected in May 2021, and scientists discovered that the new variant has “mutated substantially” from the original virus detected in Wuhan, showing greater mutations than any other Variant of Concern (VOC) or Variant of Interest (VOI) detected to date.
After first being identified in South Africa, C.1.2 has also been detected in England, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.
There have been many variants of the virus as it circulates among the world’s population.
Alpha and Delta variants, for example, have exhibited higher infectivity than the Wuhan strain. There is even evidence that Delta variants are able to evade immune responses caused by vaccinations or antibiotics administered against earlier strains.
As a result, monitoring emerging strains and their viral fitness is critical to pandemic management – apart from mass vaccination campaigns.
The study also found that the C.1.2 lineage has a mutation rate of about 41.8 mutations per year, which is nearly twice as fast as the current global mutation rate of the other variants.
Similarly, scientists verified this short period of increased evolution was observed among Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants to suggest an isolated cluster of events, followed by a spike in cases, triggered faster mutation rates.
According to the researchers, these mutations along with changes to other parts of the virus, mainly in the Alpha and Beta subtypes, may enable the virus to evade antibodies and immune responses, including in patients already infected with the Alpha or Beta variants.
In addition, scientists stressed that more work is needed in order to understand the precise impact of these mutations and to determine whether this variant is capable of outperforming the Delta variant.
In a separate report, Dr. Lutfi Camli, the head of the Izmir Medical Chamber in Turkey, indicated that a new variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Turkey, and further testing has proved that the mutations do not match the variants already listed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr. Camli explained to Turkish news outlet DHA that the new variant accounted for “50%-60%” of cases in the northern province of Rize.
“We are not sure whether this is really a new variant or the result of false negativity in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests related to the insufficiency of tests. We don’t have detailed clinical data. There is a need to confirm that this is a new variant via further study,” the doctor said.
An Istanbul university is currently conducting a genome study, although the method has yet to be adopted nationwide.
“Most scientists think a fourth wave in the pandemic will emerge in autumn. We have to press on further with our vaccination program,” Dr. Camli warned.
