27 Jan 2021

Having Covid-19 might not protect from South African variant

From First Up, 5:46 am on 27 January 2021

Scientists have discovered people who've had Covid-19 aren't always protected from the new South African variant of the virus. The South African strain, called 501Y.V2, was detected in Northland over the weekend - in a woman who tested positive after completing managed isolation and who spent some eight days in the community. So far no-one else has tested positive for the virus, but authorities continue their work to ensure it hasn't spread further in the community. Nathan Rarere spoke with Dr Richard Lessells from the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, who has been closely studying the South African variant.