​Qaqambile Mdledle 
Vaccines will still offer high levels of protection against COVID-19 related complications, hospitalisation and death. 
This is the advice from the South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). 
This reassurance comes as the South African scientists have identified a new potential SARS-CoV-2 variant which was detected through genomic surveillance of the virus during the country's third wave of infections. 
According to the researchers, there are concerns that this SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest (VOI) has been associated with increased transmissibility, neutralisation resistance, and disease severity.
According to the research, the variant was first detected in Gauteng and Mpumalanga in May this year, near the start of the country's third wave of infections. 
A month later, it had shown up in KwaZulu-Natal as well as Limpopo.
In August, the new variant had also been detected in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape meaning it was circulating in seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
The process of genomic sequencing allows scientists to monitor how the virus changes over time into new variants.
South African Research Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics at Wits, Penny Moore said this is going to happen continuously with SARS-Covid-2 as long as we have high number of infections. 
"As long as we have infections, we are expecting to pick up these variants. We really need to get these vaccines out globally. If we can get everybody to take the vaccines that would reduce the spread of SARS-Covid-2 globally and that's the only way to reduce variants," she said.
The study found consistent increases in the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa on a monthly basis. 
These have risenfrom 0.2% of genomes sequenced in May to 1.6% in June and then to 2% in July, similar to the increases seen with the Beta and Delta variants there.
The scientists added that further work is required to understand the exact impact of these mutations and to see if they give the variant a competitive advantage over the Delta variant.
The national government continues to monitor the spread of the variant and are currently assessing whether it has increased transmissibility and may escape protection following vaccination through in laboratory.​