{"id":36256,"date":"2021-11-30T19:03:08","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T19:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/?p=36256"},"modified":"2021-11-30T19:03:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T19:03:08","slug":"how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/","title":{"rendered":"How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 75px;height: 75px;border-radius: 50%;background: url(https:\/\/nordot-res.cloudinary.com\/c_limit,w_200,h_200,f_auto,q_auto:eco\/ch\/units\/721958051058909184\/profile_1.jpg);background-position: center;background-size: cover;vertical-align: middle\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 5px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;vertical-align: middle\">Published by <br \/>Reuters<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px\"><\/div>\n<p>By Tim Cocks JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; On Friday Nov. 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa&#8217;s biggest private testing labs, sequenced the genes on eight coronavirus samples &#8211; and got the shock of her life. The samples, tested in the Lancet laboratory, all bore a large number of mutations, especially on the spike protein that the virus uses to enter human cells. &#8220;I was quite shocked at what I was seeing. I questioned whether something had gone wrong in the process,&#8221; she told Reuters, a thought that quickly gave way to &#8220;a sinking feeling that the samples were going to have huge&#8230;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"nordot-read-more \" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nordot.app\/838486553963151360?c=819177386184916992\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published by Reuters By Tim Cocks JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; On Friday Nov. 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa&#8217;s biggest private&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":36258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant - South Africa Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant - South Africa Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Published by Reuters By Tim Cocks JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; On Friday Nov. 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa&#8217;s biggest private...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-30T19:03:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-30T19:03:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-30T19:03:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/\"},\"wordCount\":119,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/how-south-african-scientists-spotted-the-omicron-covid-variant\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/southafricagazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/36256-origin_1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; 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