One of several SARS-CoV-2 variants initially believed to be of particular importance, it was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay[7] metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in October 2020,[8] which was reported by the country's health department on 18 December 2020.

[15] Scientists noted that the variant is able to attach more easily to human cells because of three mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike glycoprotein of the virus: N501Y[9][16] (a change from asparagine (N) to tyrosine (Y)[17] in amino-acid position 501), K417N, and E484K.

[16][23] On 4 January 2021, UK newspaper The Telegraph reported that Oxford immunologist Sir John Bell believed there was "a big question mark" over the new South African variant's potential resistance to COVID-19 vaccines, raising fears that vaccines might not work as effectively on that variant strain.

[25] The additional mutations to the spike protein in Beta were raised as a concerning factor by Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, in that they "may make the virus less susceptible to the immune response triggered by the vaccines".

[26] Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, also noted that the variant's multiple spike mutations "could lead to some escape from immune protection".

[26] The E484K amino acid change, a receptor-binding-domain (RBD) mutation, was reported to be "associated with escape from neutralising antibodies" which could adversely affect the efficacy of spike protein-dependent COVID vaccines.

[29] The possibility of an alteration in antigenicity was referred to as an "escape mutation" from a monoclonal antibody with the capability of neutralizing the spike protein variants of SARS-CoV-2.

[34] On 16 March 2021, The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (BNT162b2) for section 21 Emergency Use Authorisation.

[37] On 5 May 2021, a letter summarizing results from the Qatar National Study Group for COVID-19 Vaccination showed 75% effectiveness against infection, with zero cases of severe disease.

[39] On 7 February 2021, the South African government suspended the planned deployment of around 1 million doses of the vaccine whilst they examined the data and awaited advice on how to proceed.

However, the incidence in France is in its Indian Ocean territory of La Réunion,[43] as pointed out by French politician and doctor Veronique Trillet-Lenoir.

[44] Other African countries have begun the roll out the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine, with Morocco, Egypt, The Seychelles and Zimbabwe starting the mass rollout.

[47] In February, Moderna reported that the current vaccine (mRNA-1273) produced only one sixth of the antibodies in response to the South African variant compared with the original virus.

[48] The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has confirmed that it has received documentation for the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Russia.

[2] [3] A small study of 12 samples published in the nature communications journal showed that the neutralising antibody response was about 6.1 times less against the beta variant.

[101] On 1 February 2021, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health and Social Care reported the random detection of 11 cases of the variant where there was no connection to international travel.

[102] The same day, the Canadian province of Ontario reported the first case of the variant in the Peel Region, with a similar absence of travel history and no contact with anyone who had recently been abroad.

[106] Tirolean officials stated their intention to relax the lockdown rules in Tirol in keeping with the rest of Austria.

[107] On 22 February, the Israeli Health Ministry stated that the variant had been genetically sequenced in just under 1% of 3,000 community samples.

[108] Later on, Israel reported a total of 444 cases of the variant, making it the highest infection rate in the world outside South Africa.

[112] On 5 March 2021, Romania reported its first two cases of the South African variant, coming from two patients in Bucharest and Pitești.

[118] In March 2022, the World Health Organization listed the Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants as previously circulating citing lack of any detected cases in the prior weeks and months.