Deadly Indian coronavirus variant detected in S. Africa

The fast spreading and deadly Indian strain of coronavirus has been detected in South Africa amidst rising prospects of a third wave of the pandemic.

Already some parts of the country are picking up early signs of a third wave of infections.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said at the weekend that four cases of the variant — two from Gauteng and two from KwaZulu-Natal — have been found in individuals with a recent travel history to India.

The detection of the variant comes as some parts of Gauteng show early signs of a third wave, with the situation in the Sedibeng district, about 50km south of Johannesburg, particularly worrying.

The variant, known as B.1.617.2, has reached at least 17 countries, from Britain and Iran to Switzerland and the US, triggering global concern as experts worry it contains mutations that may give it an edge over the body’s immune defences.

“As the epidemic progresses, the detection of new variants is inevitable,” South African health minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement late on Saturday. “We reiterate that there is no need for panic as the fundamentals of the public health response (testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine) have not changed.”

A wave of Covid-19 infections has been ravaging India over the past month, with an average of 390,000 new cases being confirmed each day over the past week.

Cumulatively, the country has 22.3-million cases of the disease and on Saturday it reported its highest single-day Covid-19 death toll.

The World Health Organization has described it as a “variant of interest”, suggesting it may have mutations that would make the virus more transmissible, cause more severe disease or even evade vaccine immunity.

But virologist Prof Barry David Schoub, who chairs South Africa’s ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19 vaccines, said that while the country should be concerned about the B.1.617.2 variant, it is much more sensitive to vaccines than the variant dominating transmissions in the country.

“It is a variant that is more sensitive to the vaccine and also to people that have been previously infected. Unlike the one we have, which is more resistant to vaccination and previous infections,” said Schoub.

“The variant we have in South Africa is a much bigger problem … But we do need to monitor and see that it doesn’t spread too far.”

The NICD said all cases of B.1.617.2 had been isolated and managed according to Covid-19 guidelines and contact tracing had been performed.

Mkhize said travel restrictions will need to be balanced against scientific realities to protect the economy.

South Africa has also picked up 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK, which is dominating infections in Europe and North America.