New Covid variant C.1.2 suspected to be more infectious: study

New Delhi: A study has revealed that the new Covid-19 variant C.1.2 which has been detected in South Africa and many other countries globally, could be more transmissible and evade protection provided by vaccines.

The scientists from National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) in South Africa said the potential variant of interest was first detected in the country in May this year.

The scientists said that this Covid variant has been found in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, the UK, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland as of August 13.

Scientists have found consistent increases in the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa each month. It increased from 0.2 per cent of genomes sequenced in May to 0.2 per cent of genomes sequenced in May.

They said that the number of available sequences of C.1.2 may be an under-representation of the spread and frequency of the variant in South Africa and around the world. However, the study is yet to be reviewed by the peer.

According to the study posted on the preprint repository MedRxiv on August 24, C.1.2 has mutated substantially compared to C.1, one of the lineages which dominated the SARS-CoV-2 infections in the first wave of the pandemic in South Africa.

There are 14 mutations in more than half of the C.1.2 sequences, but additional variations have also been observed in some sequences.