C.1.2 COVID variant not of major concern in Canada yet: experts

Experts are keeping a close eye on a relatively new COVID-19 variant, but so far, it has not been detected in Canada.

The C.1.2 strain was discovered by South African scientists in May and some are voicing concerns online about its quick mutation and it’s potential to evade vaccine protection.

However, so far, many experts agree we’re still at an early stage.

“We have to give the science an opportunity to really examine and look at the issue,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Gerald Evans.

The COVID-19 variant has been reported in most South African provinces. It has also been detected in several countries, including England, China, and Portugal. It’s believed C.1.2 has multiple mutations and could possibly overcome vaccine immunity. However, to what extent — if any — remains unknown.

At this point, however, Evans says there’s no need to worry.

“What I would say, bottom line, is anything about C.1.2 at this point is speculation, we do not know where it’s going. It does not appear to be out-competing the Delta variant,” Evans, the chair of the infectious diseases division at Queen’s University, added.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday, according to Reuters, that the variant was being monitored but that “it does not appear to be increasing in circulation.”

South African researchers recently published their findings in a pre-print paper that still has to undergo a peer review. Online, some experts are tweeting about it, citing concerns with the rate of mutation.

“Things I would say looking at the pre-print paper that came out from South Africa is there’s a lot of speculation about what these mutations mean, because some of them we don’t know if they necessarily confer any advantage to this virus or not,” Evans said, offering some perspective.

Toronto epidemiologist Dr. Ross Upshur is also urging calm, saying he believes people should get “accustomed to hearing, periodically, about new variants.”

The WHO does not currently have C.1.2 listed as a variant of concern or a variant of interest.


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According to the Centre for Disease Control in Europe, there are dozens of mutations being tracked as we speak. Right now, there are five variants of concern, including Delta, Beta, and Alpha; six variants of interest, including Lambda and Kappa; and a long list of variants that are being monitored, including C.1.2.

Upshur, a professor in the Dalla Lana Faculty of Public Health at the University of Toronto, says scientists are coming together like never before.

“Now, there’s huge sequencing capacity, and, interestingly, South Africa, because of all of the research they’ve been doing in HIV and AIDS, has really remarkably robust and advanced genomic sequencing capacity, as does the U.K., as does the U.S., and now they’re creating a global network of sequencing. So as that expands into all parts of the world, we’re going to start to see more and more variants,” he told CityNews.

Both Evans and Upshur agree C.1.2. does need to be closely monitored.

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