New COVID-19 Variant “C.1.2” found in South Africa which Can Mutate 1.7 Times Faster; says expert

NewCOVID-19 Variant “C.1.2” found in South Africa which Can Mutate 1.7 TimesFaster; says expert

Thenewly detected COVID-19 strain in South Africa is capable of making 41.8mutations per year which are approximately 1.7-fold faster than the currentglobal rate

As thethreat of a possible third wave looms large in India, South Africa on Sundayidentified a potential variant of interest (VOI) of COVID-19 that is assignedto the PANGO lineage C.1.2. According to the reports, the C.1.2 strain ofcoronavirus was first detected in May 2021 in South Africa when the country wasexperiencing the third wave.

Speakingto the media, the officials stated that the C.1.2 variant of COVID-19 has sincebeen detected across the majority of the provinces in South Africa and in sevenother countries spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

C.1.2 COVID-19 Variant Know All About It

Healthexperts have warned that a new variant of COVID-19 can give rise to anotherferocious wave in the future. The newly detected variant of interest in SouthAfrica has also been termed as a variant of concern by the experts. The varianthas evolved from C.1, one of the lineages that dominated the first wave ofSARS-CoV-2 infections in South Africa and were last detected in January 2021.

Accordingto the experts, C.1.2 is a deadly coronavirus variant that is associated withincreased transmissibility and reduced neutralization sensitivity."Compared to C.1, the new variant has "mutated substantially"and is more mutations away from the original virus detected in Wuhan than anyother Variant of Concern (VOC) or VOI detected so far worldwide," aresearcher was quoted as saying.

C.1.2 Can Have 41.8 Mutations Every YearHow Threatening Is It?

Thestudy showed that C.1.2 has 41.8 mutations per year. It is approximately1.7-fold faster than the current global rate and 1.8-fold faster than theinitial estimate of SARS-CoV-2 evolution.

Therecent study has also found consistent increases in the number of C.1.2 genomesin South Africa on a monthly basis, rising from 0.2 per cent in May to 1.6 percent in June and 2.0 per cent in July. "The rate of mutations is similarto the increases seen in Beta and Delta in South Africa during earlydetection," one of the researchers said.

Meanwhile,India has also reported the presence of a new sub-lineage AY.12 of the Deltavariant of Covid, which was recently classified in Israel. A recent report bythe Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), many cases in India thatwere earlier classified as Delta, are now being reclassified as AY.12.