Published: Aug 30, 2021
By Mark Terry
As the world struggles to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control, the virus continues to mutate, particularly in unvaccinated populations. A new variant, C.1.2., which was first detected in South Africa in May, is causing public health experts worldwide to keep an eye out for its presence as it seems to be more infectious and even more resistant to vaccines than other variants.
So far, C.1.2. has been identified in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, China, New Zealand, England, Switzerland and Portugal. It seems to have an unusually high mutation rate and more mutations than other variants of concern (VOCs) or variants of interest (VOIs).
Researchers at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform found C.1.2 has a mutation rate of about 41.8 mutations per year, nearly double the current global mutation rate observed in other VOCs.
By Mark Terry
As the world struggles to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control, the virus continues to mutate, particularly in unvaccinated populations. A new variant, C.1.2., which was first detected in South Africa in May, is causing public health experts worldwide to keep an eye out for its presence as it seems to be more infectious and even more resistant to vaccines than other variants.
So far, C.1.2. has been identified in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, China, New Zealand, England, Switzerland and Portugal. It seems to have an unusually high mutation rate and more mutations than other variants of concern (VOCs) or variants of interest (VOIs).
Researchers at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform found C.1.2 has a mutation rate of about 41.8 mutations per year, nearly double the current global mutation rate observed in other VOCs.
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