CORONAVIRUS BRIEF
JANUARY 21, 2021
CURATED BY 
A team of researchers working for South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) found that the 501Y.V2 mutation — first identified in South Africa — may be able to “evade” antibodies produced by the immune system. The finding raises the risk of reinfection in recovered patients and renders blood plasma-based treatments useless in protecting against the emergent variant strain.