Officials announced Thursday that the World Health Organization was monitoring a variant of spike protein with multiple mutations. They have scheduled a meeting to examine what this may mean for vaccines or treatments.

The WHO reports that the variant B.1.1.529 was detected in South Africa.

“We do not know much yet about this.This variant contains a lot of mutations. The concern here is that having so many mutations can impact the way the virus behaves.” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said in a Q&A that was livestreamed on the organization’s social media channels.

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South African scientists detected over 30 mutations of spike protein in virus binding proteins, South African scientist Tulio d’ Oliveira revealed in a press conference hosted by South Africa Department of Health, Thursday.

According to the slides that he showed at the briefing, the B.1.1.529 variant has multiple mutations which can increase antibody resistance. This could reduce vaccine effectiveness. The presentation also revealed that scientists are still not able to determine if the mutations found in the variant B.1.1.529 have any significance or if they could affect how the virus behaves.

During the briefing, Joe Phaahla (Minister of Health of South Africa) stated that this variant was also detected in Botswana as well as Hong Kong. 

Van Kerkhove explained that researchers have been working together to identify the locations of the mutations within the spike protein, furin, and how they might impact our diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines. According to Van Kerkhove, there is only one complete sequence of this new mutation in the genome.

Van Kerkhove explained that B.1.1.529 would be classified as a variant in interest or of concern by the virus evolution working group. The WHO then assigns the variant a Greek title.

Dr. Mike Ryan (executive director of WHO’s emergency program) stated that “it’s very important that there’s no knee-jerk reactions here, especially in relation to South Africa.”