COVID-19 C.1.2 Variant Discovered in South Africa Should Not be Cause for Panic, Here’s What WHO Says

A new SARS-CoV-2 C.1.2 variant discovered in South Africa has not been confirmed to be virally dangerous. It is essential to know that the new variant is composed of a viral cluster, not just one, unlike other variants. It should be a cause of concern, but it has not been fully understood but still needs necessary precautions.

Although many fear, the new variant C.1.2 is far worse than the Delta, which the World Health Organization has not cited as an object of interest, cited by Matrix.

Study of C.1.2 variant still in the initial stage

Researchers said the study is pre-printed and only posted just a week ago and has not been peer-reviewed yet. Their initial findings are that several changes in the COVID-19 variant have mutations in the cluster in a short period, reported Sciencealert.

One thing viruses do is change and evolve, depending on the circumstances. Changes are governed by chance, the opportunity to get the best advantages to kill the host or make it sick. It is too early to conclude about how mutations can impact people.

One thing to consider is how the new variant unloads as a package to sicken the host cells, mainly how it can compare to other variants and their infectiousness. Fear and panic should be ignored as there is not enough information to say how it will impact populations. The C.1.2 variant from South Africa is different but similar to the Lambda, which took root in Peru first, cited the Conversation.

Some adaptations might be more menacing if how they attack host cells is known. So, this cluster type variant is still an unknown factor. There should be solid evidence before alarmist declare its mutation are serious.

How it can be so infectious to humans must be determined how it can be transmitted to host cells. Will it be causing more diseases or can avoid antibodies than other variants. There is not enough information from studies with complex data to say if it has spread far already. Only 5% are the cases seen in South Africa and only 100 cases from May.

Lambda, Delta still virus of concerns

Whether it gets to the level that fear-mongers what to depict the new South African variant, the answer is there is no way to know for sure. However, some sectors might blow it up sooner as the next in line to the Delta strain.

A good chance will be that it would be a significant SARS-CoV-2 strain of immense concern that beats other strains and go poof and drop all the mutations it gone as a natural result. One view is that this viral cluster with multiple mutations can successfully replace another variant to be dominant. Chances are it will naturally die out, which is normal.

The new South African strain has many evolving and adaptations to unseat the Delta variant, the most concerned strain. Eyes will be on the C.1.2 variant to see how far it will go, but the Delta is the top strain detected for now. In Australia, the Communicable Diseases Genomics Network is looking out for variants to watch if ever it starts transmitting widely.

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World health organization, South Africa