LOS ANGELES—The first two cases of a South African variant of COVID-19 were confirmed in California Feb. 10—but not in the Southland—with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying one case each was detected in the Bay Area counties of Alameda and Santa Clara. “The issue of mutations is top of mind, not only here in the state of California and across this nation, but increasingly around the globe,” Newsom said. The South African variant, much like a variant first found in the United Kingdom, is not regarded as more dangerous but it is believed to be much more easily passed from person to person. As of Feb. 10, there have been 159 confirmed cases of the UK variant detected in California, including eight in Los Angeles County. Newsom said there are 1,203 confirmed cases of two West Coast variants, but to date, there are no cases of another variant discovered in Brazil. …