To study the spread of COVID in South Africa, an interdisciplinary team called the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) was formed with members from SA, the UK and Brazil. Analysing 1365 genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the researchers found 16 new COVID lineages which emerged in SA, which account for 42% of the country’s infections.
As could be expected, the bulk of introductions occurred before the advent of the lockdown and travel bans. Whether these new COVID lineages have any superior attributes relative to the original strains is as yet unknown, although the infectivity appears the same.
The study shows that, despite the lockdown, new strains emerged in localised outbreaks. Nosocomial outbreaks were also studied; in one case an outbreak in a hospital in KZN which went on to infect 16% of the population was brought under control, partly as a result of the investigation.
Source: News-Medical.Net
