Two new variants of COVID-19 which appear to have emerged in Southern Africa are raising extremely serious concerns around the world. The variants—known as C.1.2 and B.1.1.529—appear to have a worrisome combination of changes, including changes that could make them highly evasive of antibodies from both vaccines and previous infections. Of particular concern: these variants appear to be more contagious than the already highly infectious delta, with the B.1.1.529 variant in particular going from a small cluster of cases, to local dominance, almost overnight. The B.1.1.529 variant, which could gain the label “nu” following a World Health Organization meeting on Friday, is raising concerns great enough that both Israel and the U.K. have moved quickly to ban travel to and from the region where this variant has been identified. First identified in Botswana, the variant was initially tagged as a “very small cluster” (4 cases in Botswana, 77 in South Africa, and 1 case in Hong Kong). However, as virologist Tom Peacock of Imperial College quickly noted, the number of mutations seen in this variant are “really awful” and give it a “horrific spike profile.” Other variants showing extreme mutations on the spike protein have been identified before, and several of these have contained changes that suggested they could be more evasive of antibodies from existing vaccines and past infections. However, these past variants have proven to be less infectious than delta and haven’t become dominant outside of small areas. That doesn’t seem to be the case this time around. The C.1.2 variant had been gaining ground against delta in South Africa over the last few weeks, and now early data suggests that the B.1.1.529 is ferociously infectious. Possibly 500% more infectious than delta.  Read more