A new variant of Covid-19, with a high number of mutations that could threaten the effectiveness of existing vaccines, has been detected in South Africa, scientists announced Thursday.
“We have unfortunately detected a new variant that is a cause for concern in South Africa,” virologist Tulio de Oliveira said in an online press conference.
The B.1.1.529 variant has an “extremely high” number of mutations, according to South African scientists who had previously detected the contagious Beta variant. At this stage, scientists are unsure of the effectiveness of the anti-Covid vaccines against this new form of the virus.
The emergence of this variant is undoubtedly at the origin of the “exponential” increase in infections in recent weeks, according to the Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla, who attended the press conference.
Other cases have been reported in neighboring Botswana and in Hong Kong, in a person returning from a trip to South Africa.
South Africa, which fears a new wave of the pandemic by the end of the year, is officially the continent’s most affected by the pandemic. It has more than 2.9 million cases and over 89,600 deaths.
The global pandemic is currently dominated by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, initially detected in India.