A new covid variant that seems to be worse than the delta form has been found in South Africa, troubling scientists who say the strain has a high number of mutations. Via HuffPost: The variant, which is being referred to as the B1.1.529 variant until the World Health Organization decides to assign it a letter of the Greek alphabet, is linked to 22 positive cases in South Africa so far, as well as cases in Hong Kong and Botswana among travelers from the country. “You can be rest assured that as people move in the next coming weeks, this [variant] will be all over,” Dr.