Here’s What to Know About the New COVID-19 Variant Found in South Africa
Viruses mutate all the time, so it’s no surprise that the coronavirus which emerged in China at the end of 2019 has undergone significant mutations as the virus replicates and spreads.
But a new strain that has emerged in South Africa is causing concern. Like a variant discovered in the U.K. in recent months, the one in South Africa is proving to be far more transmissible.
While the two strains spread more easily, scientists do not believe they are deadlier. But being more transmissible means more people can get infected, and this could mean more serious infections and more fatalities.
Questions are now being raised over whether the coronavirus vaccines developed at breakneck speed in the last year, the Western frontrunners being those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca will be effective against significant mutations of the virus, such as the one identified in South Africa.
