New COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa
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South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday. The NICD said in a statement that 22 cases of variant B.1.1.529 had been recorded following genomic sequencing. South Africa was the first country to detect the Beta variant last year.