A SEVERE VARIANT of the coronavirus has been detected in South Africa which could explain the rapid spread of a second wave that affects younger people, the health minister said.

Known as the 501.V2 Variant, it was identified by South African researchers and details have been sent to the World Health Organization, Zwelini Mkhize said in a statement.

A team led by the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), has sequenced hundreds of virus samples since the pandemic began, and “noticed that a particular variant has increasingly dominated the findings of the samples collected in the past two months,” he added.

It’s been reported that 88% of the latest results in the Western Cape province are from the new Covid-19 variant.

South African doctors have remarked that more patients are younger, and do not always have other conditions that amplify the virus’ effect, but are nonetheless suffering from more severe forms of Covid-19.

That “strongly suggests that the current second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant,” Mkhize concluded.

The research team, led by Tulio de Oliveira, has shared its findings with the scientific community and alerted authorities in Britain, who have “studied their own samples and found that a similar mutation… was the variant that was driving their resurgence in London”.

The UK variant

A strain of coronavirus was identified in southern England this week that appeared to spread faster than others. Though health officials were cautious not to be too definitive, reports tonight have indicated that this strain is more virulent, and has caused the surge in cases in London. 

England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said at a UK coronavirus briefing this week that this quicker spread may not be a result of ’cause and effect’:

Is it getting more frequent because it’s in a part of the country which the rate of increase is going faster anyway… or is it that this virus itself is possible to transmit more easily? That isn’t really yet clear.

Whitty also said:

• There’s no evidence that it’s more dangerous than other variants, or that the symptoms of this variant are any worse or different.
• The current Covid-19 tests work against this variant, he said, and said it would be “not impossible, but pretty surprising” if the vaccines already in development wouldn’t be effective against the virus.

Variants of the coronavirus have regularly been identified and called to the attention of global health officials.

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The South African health minister reiterated that the most effective way to fight back is to practice social distancing, wear face masks and wash your hands regularly.

South Africa has been affected more by the coronavirus than other countries on the continent, and as of today had recorded 24,845 deaths and more than 900,000 cases among a population of almost 60 million people.

More than 8,700 cases were detected there in the previous 24 hours, still well below the peak of around 12,000 per day seen in July.

With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha