Amid increasing cases of Corona in the world, a piece of scary news is coming from South Africa as a new variant of Corona has been emerged. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases gave this information on Thursday. Scientists are trying to understand the possible effects of this new COVID Variant. Genomic sequencing has revealed that 22 cases of variant B 1.1.529 have been reported so far.
Earlier on 19 November, a new sub-lineage of the delta variant of the COVID was detected in Sri Lanka. Its scientific name was named B.1.617.1.AY104 was the third mutation of the coronavirus to have originated in this island country. In fact, till now, the delta variant of the Corona has proved to be highly contagious and in the beginning and middle of this year was the reason for the rapid increase in cases of this disease all over the world.
Potential to be the worst ever:
Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College who first noticed its spread, described the combination of mutations as 'terrible'. He warned that B.1.1.1.529, its scientific name, has the potential to be 'worse' than anything else, including Delta. Talking to DailyMail, scientists said that the high number of mutations can work against it and make it 'unstable', thereby preventing it from spreading.
Dr Tom Peacock said that there is no need to panic as no such signs have been found so far, indicating its rapid spread. So far, three infections have been detected in Botswana and six in South Africa. A case has also come to the fore in Hong Kong. There are currently no cases in the UK, but the UK Health Security Agency closely monitors the situation. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the variant for the UK is not currently being viewed as "a major issue".
