It has been more than a month since Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, spreading across South Africa.
During a live webinar hosted by the national Department of Health on Monday, Mkhize said the variant, named 501Y.V2, has been driving the number of increased transmissions observed in the second wave.
The new variant is now the dominant virus "spreading in our midst" and is 50% more transmissible than the previous variants seen in South Africa, said Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) co-chairperson Professor Salim Abdool Karim during the webinar.
