The Continuous Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa: A New Lineage with Rapid Accumulation of Mutations of Concern and Global Detection

Publisher:
medRxiv
Publication Date:
30 August 2021
Tags:
South Africa, Coronavirus, Health and Medicine, Science and Biotechnology

SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest have been associated with increased transmissibility, neutralization resistance and disease severity. Ongoing SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance world-wide has improved our ability to rapidly identify such variants. Here we report the identification of a potential variant of interest assigned to the PANGO lineage C.1.2. This lineage was first identified in May 2021 and evolved from C.1, one of the lineages that dominated the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections in South Africa and was last detected in January 2021. C.1.2 has since been detected across the majority of the provinces in South Africa and in seven other countries spanning Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

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