South Africa's health ministry has said four cases of a coronavirus variant fuelling a devastating surge of Covid-19 in India had been recorded in the country.

“The four cases of B.1.617.2 have been detected in (the provinces of) Gauteng (2) and KwaZulu-Natal (2) and all have a history of recent arrival from India,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement, according to AFP.

Eleven cases of another variant first detected in the United Kingdom and known as B.1.1.7 have also been found, the statement added, noting that community transmission of that variant had “already set in”.