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A mutated form of COVID-19 first identified in South Africa is indeed more transmissible but, at the moment, does not appear to cause more serious illness, said an infectious disease expert who helps advise the minister of the health of the country.
The South African variant of the virus, known as 501Y.V2, has raised serious concerns and the strain has previously been described as more infectious than the COVID-19 virus identified at the start of the pandemic. In South Africa, it quickly became dominant in the coastal areas of the country. That said, experts today are convinced that existing COVID-19 vaccines should still prove effective against the mutated strains.
“We have seen data on higher viral loads in patients with the variant,” Ian Sanne, infectious disease physician and member of a panel of scientists advising the Minister of Health in Africa, told Bloomberg from South. “The variant is more transmissible, the second wave was significantly impacted.”
Although more transmissible, it does not appear to cause more serious illness at the moment, he added.
CORONAVIRUS VARIANT IN SOUTH AFRICA ‘VERY IMPORTANT PROBLEM’, SAYS UK HEALTH SECRETARY
Dr Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, also spoke about the emerging variants, including a distinct one identified in the UK, during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday morning.
He said he was not surprised to see new strains of the virus, and warned that one of them could emerge which is more deadly than COVID-19.
“You may see strains that are more pathogenic, cause more serious disease or bind more tightly to certain receptors. A lot of people seem surprised that the virus is mutating, but the reality is that we’ve been with this virus for a year now – that’s around the time you start to see new variants emerging. “
Gottlieb’s comments came just days after warning that the South African strain could “avoid” other countermeasures, including antibody-based drugs.
“The South African variant is of great concern right now as it looks like it may be able to avoid some of our medical countermeasures, especially antibody-based drugs,” Gottlieb said in an interview with Shepard Smith from CNBC Tuesday night.
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Gottlieb stressed that rapid vaccination is crucial amid the disturbing strain, which has already been identified in Austria, Switzerland, Japan, France, Zambia and the UK.
“The vaccine can become a safety net against these variants that are really taking hold in the United States, but we need to step up the pace of vaccination,” said the former chief of the FDA.
Kayla Rivas of Fox News contributed to this report.
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