South African scientists have been keeping a close eye on a new COVID-19 variant because of “its concerning constellations of mutations.”
The variant, called C.1.2, was first identified in May in South Africa. The scientists have posted a preprint study, saying the new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Virus variant shares mutations with other more transmissible variants.
“The reason we were worried about the kind of combination of mutations was that many of the mutations we see in this C.1.2 are the same mutations we’ve seen in some of the other variants of concern, particularly the Beta and the Alpha and the Gamma but it’s in a different combination,” Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert and one of the study’s authors, told Reuters Tuesday.
The new variant contains many mutations that have been identified in all four variants of concern—Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma—and three variants of interest—Kappa, Eta, and Lambda, the study (pdf) reads.
Variants of concern have increased transmissibility or more severe symptoms compared to variants of interest. Delta, for example, has quickly become the dominant variant in the United States and much of the world.
A variant won’t be given a Greek Alphabet name if it doesn’t meet certain criteria by an expert group convened by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Lessells said the main fears are that C.1.2 might be especially transmissible or would be able to get around some of the immunity provided by either vaccines or prior infection.
The new variant, C.1.2, is currently neither variant of concern nor variant of interest.
According to the study, the variant accounted for 0.2 percent of the genomes sequenced in South Africa in May, 1.6 percent in June, and 2 percent in July.