ONE OF South Africa’s leading virologists and member of the country’s Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA), Carolyn Williamson, still remembers the telephone call in November 2020. “A worried Tulio de Olivera, head of NGS-SA, called me to inform on his discovery of a new variant of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19. He told me about this variant’s unexpected number of mutations in the spike protein that the virus uses to infect human cells,” he recalls. ngssa had identified the variant, later named 501y.V2, through analysis of 2,882 whole genomes from South Africa. Within a month of the variant's discovery in the Eastern Cape Province of the country, COVID-19 cases spiked. The new variant is up to 50 percent more transmissible, say experts. “By December, this virus variant had essentially replaced the previously circulating ones,” Williamson told Down To Earth (dte). The country formally declared this as the second wave of the pandemic in December 2020. After further investigations, experts estimated that the new wave caused by the variant actually started around October 2020. It was notably rapid in parts of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZuluNatal Provinces.
By January 2021, the second wave turned widespread and deadly. According to the World Bank’s Africa Pulse report, released on March 31, 2021, “The number of confirmed cases in South Africa increased from 14,109 per million people on December 10, 2020 to a peak of 24,435 per million people on January 30, 2021. Meanwhile, fatalities grew from 384 per million people to 741 per million people over the same time period.” This was the highest among the 54 African countries.
Denne historien er fra April 16, 2021-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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Denne historien er fra April 16, 2021-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A SPRIG TO CARE FOR
Punarnava, a perennial herb, is easy to grow and has huge health benefits
DIGGING A DISASTER
Soapstone mining near Dabti Vijaypur village has caused many residents to migrate.
REVIEW THE TREATMENT
Several faecal sludge treatment plants in Uttar Pradesh suffer from design flaws that make the treatment process both expensive and inefficient
MAKE STEEL SUSTAINABLE
As India works to double its GDP by 2030, its steel industry must balance growth with sustainability. By embracing policies like the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy 2019 and adopting green technologies, India is paving the way for a more sustainable future in steel production
Can ANRF pull off the impossible for India?
Anusandhan National Research Foundation is expected to reorient India's innovation goals but funding issues, old mindsets remain a drag
TROUBLED WOODS
Forests are a great bulwark against climate change. But this is fast changing. AKSHIT SANGOMLA travels through some of the pristine patches of the Western Ghats to explore how natural disturbances triggered by global warming now threaten the forest health
BLINDING GLOW
The science is clear: increased illumination has damaging consequences for the health of humans, animals and plants. It’s time governments introduced policies to protect the natural darkness and improved the quality of outdoor lighting.
GROUND REALITY
What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?
GM POLICY MUST BE FARMER CENTRIC
On July 23, the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to develop a national policy on genetically modified (GM) crops for research, cultivation, trade and commerce through public consultation.
Vinchurni's Gandhi
A 96-year-old farmer transforms barren land into a thriving forest in drought-prone region of Satara