Jakarta –
Recently, scientists from South Africa detected the presence of New Corona variant which has many mutations. The variant, known as C.1.2, was first identified in South Africa in May 2021.
It is known that the C.1.2 variant has spread to most provinces of South Africa and seven other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, to Oceania. Scientists believe this C.1.2 variant has many mutations from other variants.
The presence of this mutation is thought to make this C.1.2 variant easily contagious and reduce sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies. Even so, they do not know for sure the behavior of this variant because laboratory tests are still being carried out.
Here are some facts about the C.1.2 variant quoted from The Guardian.
1. Including VoC or VoI group?
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the C.1.2 variant did not meet the criteria as a variant of concern (VoC) or variant of interest (VoI).
The requirement to be grouped in the VoC is that the variant must show increased transmission, virulence or changes in clinical disease, decreased public health effectiveness, and social measures.
Meanwhile, the requirement for VoI is that the variant must be proven capable of causing community transmission in several clusters and has been detected in many countries. However, it does not necessarily prove to be more virulent or contagious.
2. Why is the C.1.2 variant called more dangerous?
Virologist and lecturer in immunology and infectious disease at the University of Sydney’s Central Clinical School, Dr Megan Steain, said it was due to a mutation in the C.1.2 variant.
“This variant has some of the key mutations that we see in other variants that have become variant of concern or varian of interest,Dr. Steain explained.
“Every time we see that particular mutation appear, we watch it to see what it will do. Mutation This can affect a variety of things, such as whether it (the variant) evades the immune response or transmits more quickly.”
3. Can this C.1.2 variant disappear?
According to Dr Steain, this emerging variant of COVID-19 can disappear before it becomes a major problem. That’s because many variants of the virus are very fragile.
“C.1.2 has to be good enough, strong enough and fast enough to beat the Delta variant at this stage. I think we’re still at a point where this (C.1.2 variant) could die out, the prevalence is very low,” he explained.
“We saw this in Beta variants and other variants of concern that spread quite well. But then they couldn’t survive and other variants were followed that were able to spread more quickly. So they basically died,” said Dr Steain.
Is the current vaccine still capable of fighting the C.1.2 variant? Click to the next page.
Watch Videos”WHO Talks About New Variant C.1.2 from South Africa“
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