South African scientists have detected a new COVID-19 variant in small numbers and are working to understand its potential implications, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday. The NICD said in a statement that 22 cases of variant B.1.1.529 had been recorded following genomic sequencing. "Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be," the statement quoted the NICD's Professor Adrian Puren as saying.