{"id":1089,"date":"2020-12-19T18:15:04","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T18:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/south-africa\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2020-12-19T18:15:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T18:15:04","slug":"sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister","title":{"rendered":"SA experiencing a new Covid-19 variant – health minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Johannesburg – South Africa is experiencing a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections, the health minister said on Friday.<\/p>\n

“We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 Virus – currently termed 501.V2 Variant – has been identified by our genomics scientists here in South Africa,” Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize tweeted.<\/p>\n

“The evidence that has been collated, therefore, strongly suggests that the current second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant,” Mkhize added.<\/p>\n

Karim: This new 501.V2 variant has become dominant in South Africa. This new variant has 3 mutations. #SARSCOV2MediaBriefing<\/p>\n

Karim: \u201cWe are seeing a much higher proportion of the new variant than the rest of the world. \u201c #SARSCOV2MediaBriefing<\/p>\n

Karim: \u201cWe don’t know where it originated. What we do know is that we first found it in Nelson Mandela Bay\u201d #SARSCOV2MediaBriefing<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization said on Monday it was aware of a new variant of Covid-19 had emerged in Britain, but there was no evidence showing the strain behaved differently to existing types of the virus.<\/p>\n

South Africa has recorded the highest number of coronavirus infections on the African continent, approaching the 900,000 mark, with over 20,000 related deaths. A resurgence in positive cases saw government tighten lockdown restrictions this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg – South Africa is experiencing a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections, the health minister said on Friday. “We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 Virus – currently termed 501.V2 Variant – has been identified by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[274,275],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSA experiencing a new Covid-19 variant - health minister - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SA experiencing a new Covid-19 variant - health minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg – South Africa is experiencing a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections, the health minister said on Friday. “We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 Virus – currently termed 501.V2 Variant – has been identified by […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-19T18:15:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fde3bdad7bb6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"651\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SA experiencing a new Covid-19 variant – health minister\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-19T18:15:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fde3bdad7bb6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-experiencing-a-new-covid-19-variant-health-minister\",\"name\":\"SA experiencing a new Covid-19 variant - 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