South Africa Covid strain 501Y.V2 worry health officials and some experts as it swiftly spreads in three provinces in the country.
The new Covid variant has become the dominant strain in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
The N501Y mutation that South Africa detected in the spike protein that the virus uses to invade cells within the body was also present in the new strain that the U.K. found in December.
The World Health Organization (WHO) explained that while both variants detected in the U.K. (called “VOC-202012/01,” with VOC meaning “Variant of Concern”) and South Africa have the same N501Y mutation, they remain different.
The South Africa Covid variant involves two other mutations in the spike protein which are not found in the U.K. strain. Moreover, experts believe these developments could change how vaccines fight Covid-19.
The new Covid variant has also spread in countries like France, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, and Zambia.
Meanwhile, several countries have already prohibited flights from South Africa as well as the U.K. due to the new variants of the virus in order to contain their spread.
The U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock finds the variant found in South Africa particularly worrisome. “I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he said during an interview on the BBC’s “Today” program Monday.
“This is a very, very significant problem... and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant,” he stressed.
Former FDA Chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb pointed out that inoculating Americans against Covid is more important now that the new South Africa Covid variant seems to inhibit antibody drugs and continuously spreads elsewhere.
“The South Africa variant is very concerning right now because it does appear that it may obviate some of our medical countermeasures, particularly the antibody drugs,” Gottlieb said on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith."
“Right now that strain does appear to be prevalent in South America and Brazil, the two parts of the world, right now, that are in their summer, but also experiencing a very dense epidemic, and that’s concerning.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Sunday that scientists are examining the variants “to better understand how easily they might be transmitted and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against them.”
“Currently, there is no evidence that these variants cause more severe illness or increased risk of death. New information about the virologic, epidemiologic, and clinical characteristics of these variants is rapidly emerging,” it added.
In the U.S., the new coronavirus strain was detected in people without travel history. This is considered a sign that the variant could be infecting Americans unknowingly.
According to U.S. health officials, the strain’s arrival in the country did not surprise them. However, the new variant could make the situation of the country worse if it went unchecked.
On a conference call, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said data suggests that the new strain transmits more easily and faster compared with other versions of the virus. However, it would not lead to more severe disease in people who are infected and the existing Covid vaccines could still fight it, the institution said.
Experts still warned that the new variant threatens could worsen things if more people are hospitalized as a result of its spread.
