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PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has detected the South Africa B.1.351 Covid-19 variant in several cases in the country. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the variant was found in four cases this month linked to the Jalan Lima cluster and the Kebun Baru cluster. "Early investigations revealed that all four cases have geographical links. "Two cases are believed to be from the Jalan Lima cluster, involving an employee of a based at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). "However, it is difficult to identify or confirm how the infection with the B.1.351 variant was transmitted. "One case is traced to the Kebun Baru cluster while another case involved the housemate of a Covid-19 patient," said Dr Noor Hisham. He said following the discovery of the variant, the ministry conducted further genome sequencing tests on samples taken from the Kuala Langat and Sepang districts. As a result, five more cases with the variant were detected. Four were ... » Learn More about Health Ministry: South African Covid-19 variant detected in Malaysia

A prominent Thai virologist says Thailand must prevent the arrival of the South African (also known as 20H/501Y.V2, B.1.351 lineage) or Brazilian Covid-19 (B.1.1.248) variants, warning that vaccines are not fully effective against those strains, or at least there is not enough conclusive information about their efficacy against the new variants at this stage. Yong Poovorawan from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University was addressing a press conference at the Public Health Ministry when he issued the warning. “We have to be cautious about which novel variants are being imported into our country.” Yong says the surfaces of the variants carry different protein spikes to those found in the original strain of the virus. This means the virus takes on a different shape, making it more difficult for the human immune system to recognise it. The Bangkok Post reports that Yong has suggested improved quarantine to keep variants out, but admits this is not fool-proof, given the recent arrival ... » Learn More about Top virologist warns of vaccine limitations against South African, Brazilian variants

JERUSALEM: The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can "break through" Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday (Apr 10), compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics. The South African variant, B1351, was found to make up about 1 per cent of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel's largest healthcare provider, Clalit. But among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, the variant's prevalence rate was eight times higher than those unvaccinated - 5.4 per cent versus 0.7 per cent. COMMENTARY: Those new ... » Learn More about South African COVID-19 variant can ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine: Israel study

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil has recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, a fresh danger sign for a country already ravaged by the world's highest daily death toll fueled by a widespread local variant. Last week, scientists at the Butantan biomedical institute said the case, identified in a woman in Sao Paulo state, might be a new local variant. Further analysis confirmed it as the first known local case of the variant widely circulating in South Africa and elsewhere. Scientists fear a showdown between the South African variant and the already rampant Brazilian variant, known as P.1, both of which are more contagious and possibly more deadly than the original version of the coronavirus and have led to accelerated COVID-19 surges. "It could be a huge duel," said Maria Carolina Sabbaga, one of Butantan's coordinators for studying new variants. "I think P.1 has already taken over. I'm not sure if the South African will ... » Learn More about Brazil detects first case of South African variant as COVID-19 deaths soar

SAO PAULO: Brazil has recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, a fresh danger sign for a country already ravaged by the world's worst daily death toll and scrambling to make space for burials. Sao Paulo, the country's biggest city, on Wednesday (Apr 7) said it would begin opening about 600 new graves per day, well beyond the record of 426 burials in a day on Mar 30. The city is also preparing plans for a "vertical cemetery," a crypt with 26,000 drawer-like graves that can be build in 90 days once approved. The detection of the South African variant adds to concerns that a brutal COVID-19 wave battering Brazil may keep breaking grim records for weeks to come. On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported a single-day record of 4,195 deaths. The outbreak in South America's largest country may overtake the United States to become the world's deadliest, some medical experts predict. The woman in Sao Paulo state now ... » Learn More about Brazil confirms first case of South African variant, makes room for soaring COVID-19 deaths

JOHANNESBURG (REUTERS) - South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya will challenge a female classification rule imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), her lawyers said on Monday (June 18). The two-time Olympic and three-time world 800 metres champion, who has hyperandrogenism, faces having to take medication to lower her higher than normal levels of naturally produced testosterone, which the sport's governing IAAF has deemed gives her an unfair advantage. Law firm Norton Rose Fulbright said in a statement that the legal challenge would be filed on Monday at the CAS in Lausanne. "Ms Semenya, like all athletes, is entitled to compete the way she was born without being obliged to alter her body by any medical means," the firm said. Controversy has never been far from the South African, now 27, since her teenage success in the 800m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, where the pure power ... » Learn More about Athletics: South African runner Caster Semenya to challenge IAAF’s ‘female classification’ rule

SAO PAULO (REUTERS) - Brazil has detected a new Covid-19 variant that is similar to the one first seen in South Africa, the head of Sao Paulo's Butantan institute said on Wednesday (March 31), as Latin America's biggest country notched another record daily death toll. Butantan President Dimas Covas said the patient with the variant had no history of travel to South Africa. The South African variant has alarmed public health experts as there are questions of how effective current vaccines are against it. Brazil is grappling with its own homegrown variant, called P1, which appears to be fuelling a record-breaking run of infections. "It is a variant similar to that of South Africa, although there is no history of travel or contact with travellers from South Africa," said Covas, whose biomedical institute is run by Sao Paulo state. "There is a possibility that it is an evolution of our P1 towards this mutation in South Africa." Brazil reported a daily record of 3,869 new Covid-19 ... » Learn More about Brazil detects new coronavirus variant similar to South African

CAPE TOWN (REUTERS) - South African two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya is to take her fight with World Athletics to the European Court of Human Rights, her lawyers confirmed on Tuesday (Nov 17). The 29-year-old is one of a number of female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) competing in races ranging from 400m to a mile (1,609m), who World Athletics insists must reduce their naturally high levels of testosterone in order to run. This can be done either through the use of drugs or surgical interventions. Semenya has vowed to fight the regulations but has already lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and another subsequent plea to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) asking for the CAS ruling to be set aside. "We will be taking World Athletics to the European Court of Human Rights," Semenya's lawyer Greg Nott said in a media statement, without placing a timeframe on the appeal. "We remain hopeful that World Athletics will see the ... » Learn More about Athletics: South African 800m ace Semenya to bring case to European Court of Human Rights

CAPE TOWN (AFP) - As in any good film noir, the end has come quickly for a notorious South African baboon which went on a vicious crime spree and pushed things just that little bit too far. The alpha-male monkey found himself high on the unwanted list last year after he moved into the scenic Cape Town suburb of Smitswinkel Bay following a stint along a tourist-magnet road. There, he terrorised residents with more than 40 raids for food in rubbish bins, lawns and porches, sometimes entering homes while people were inside. In desperation, locals fortified their homes with "baboon-proof" measures, all in vain. But it was when the baboon started forming a gang that the authorities realised that things were getting out of hand. In recent weeks, a splinter group of females and juveniles had started following the baboon, placing themselves in danger, and the boss on Thursday (April 8) had to be "humanely" euthanised, the city of Cape Town said. The conservation group ... » Learn More about South African gangster baboon comes to an untimely end

JERUSALEM - The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can “break through” Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for Covid-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics. The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1per cent of all the Covid-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit. But among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, the variant’s prevalence rate was eight times higher than those unvaccinated - 5.4per cent versus 0.7per cent. [[nid:519206]] This suggests the ... » Learn More about South African variant can ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine, Israeli study says