A new variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus has been detected in South Africa, its health minister, Joe Phaahla, announced Thursday. Scientists say the new variant is a concern because it has a high number of mutations and spreads rapidly among young people in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province, he said at an online press briefing. “Over the last four or five days, there has been more of an exponential rise [in new infections],” he said of South Africa’s case numbers of the CCP virus. A surge in cases, which appeared to be cluster outbreaks from student gatherings in Pretoria and Tshwane, prompted scientists to study the genomic sequencing and subsequently discover the new variant, Phaahla said. Scientists in South Africa are now working to determine what percentage of the new cases have been caused by the new variant, identified as B.1.1.529. 10 Confirmed Cases to Date To date, …