HIGHER Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande and Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize gave an update on research done on the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa last year.
They held a virtual briefing on Wednesday, 3 March.
Nzimande announced people who’d been infected with the second variant had protection from previous and current variants.
“It generates immune responses that neutralise itself and other SARS leniencies,” he said.
He said his department had pumped almost R70 million in funding for 21 Covid-19 research projects.
“The work of our researchers is recognised globally,” he said.
Investigations by local scientists resulted in the detection of the new variant, dubbed 501Y.V2.
“In this regard, government has been working with scientists from the KZN Research Informatics and Sequencing Programme,” he said.
“KRISP is the first in the world to uncover the findings, showing the 501Y.V2 variant has a number of mutations on its spike protein, which increases the efficacy of the virus to infect humans and potentially posing problems of vaccine escape.”
The departments of science and innovation and health allocated KRISP R25 million over the next year to complete the sequencing of 10 000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes in South Africa and the rest of the continent.
The department said scientists from KRISP had been meeting with the world’s top scientists every two weeks to discuss the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 lineages.
The scientists said the variant had a higher propensity for being transmitted, but there was no evidence that it caused more severe disease.
Head of KRISP Prof Tulio de Oliveira gave an update on the latest findings, saying the other variants discovered in SA had not become cause for concern.
De Oliveira compared the efficacy of the different vaccines.
“The efficacy of vaccines evaluated in SA seems to be reduced for mild to moderate disease. This may not be the case for severe disease,” he said.
Mkhize said he was impressed by the work the scientists had put in.
