501.V2 variant

The 501Y.V2 variant, also known as South African COVID-19 variant, is a variant of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It is one of several SARS-CoV-2 variants. It was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
On 23 December 2020, the United Kingdom health minister Matt Hancock said that two people who had travelled from South Africa to the United Kingdom were infected with the 501.V2. On 28 December, the variant was detected in two people in Switzerland and one in Finland.
The United States reported its first cases of the variant in the U.S. state of South Carolina.