At the weekend the rather worrying news that SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 has begun evolving.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) here in South Africa explained this evolution in an update.
“SARS-CoV-2, like all viruses, mutates with time. Between March and September 2020, this virus mutated at a relatively slow rate, as evidenced by over 2,000 sequences from across 8 of the 9 provinces. However, from late September 2020, this virus has accumulated several mutations that have not previously been seen in South Africa,” wrote the NICD.
“Scientists at the NICD, UKZN and UCT are working on testing what impact all these mutations have on virus growth, virus sensitivity to antibodies, and binding to human cell receptors,” the institute added.
What we know right now is that the virus is evolving to make it easier for it to infect others, and it is become more resilient to antibodies.
This is rather worrying but today we received word that the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) will be contributing funding for the research into the virus’ evolution.
The DSI will pump R25 million into the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP). Established in 2017 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, KRISP is a cutting edge genomics centre that allows for DNA sequencing, precision medicine testing and more.
“This was in the wake of the latest surveillance results that shows a worrying trend of the highly transmittable COVID-19 variant first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape, and moved to the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and is now the dominant and possibly the only COVID-19 variant responsible for the current surge,” the DSI said.
The DSI funding will be used to acquire equipment, reagents and lab consumables.
However, while this is good news, KRISP needs R45 million over the next 12 months so while this funding is good, more is needed.
With a new evolution of COVID-19 now in play, we foresee Christmas and New Years being rather muted affairs in 2020.
[Source – SA News]
