health
VARIANTS
WHAT EXACTLY IS A
variant? How do virus variants arise? And what can we do to protect ourselves from them? Experts explain the science behind the headlines.
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22
Summer 2021/2022
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY ALARMING REPORTS about new variants of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. One of the variants, called Beta, was even discovered in our own backyard, in the Eastern Cape, in October 2020. But how and why do they occur? Viruses are tiny molecular machines that invade other organisms’ cells, which they hijack to make copies of themselves. The copies then go on to infect other cells. This overwhelms your immune system and makes you feel ill. But every time a virus creates a copy of itself, that copy will be different in microscopic ways to its ‘parent’. sanlamreality.co.za
