New Covid Variant : Africa B1.620

[Muji]

A new variant stealthily took hold on two continents, highlighting the need for global genomic surveillance.

Multiple travellers carried a new coronavirus variant from central Africa to Europe, where it has now spread to at least a dozen countries, according to genomic data1. The variant, named B.1.620, hosts a suite of mutations that have been linked to increased transmissibility and the ability to escape the immune response.

The variant was first detected in April in viral samples from Lithuania. After noticing it, Gytis Dudas at the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre in Sweden and colleagues analysed SARS-CoV-2 genomic data from across the globe and found that B.1.620 had suddenly appeared in European samples in February. It is now present in France, Belgium and elsewhere.

The researchers also found the new variant in genomic sequences from six people living in the Central African Republic near the Cameroonian border and in seven people in Europe who had recently returned from Cameroon.

These data suggest that B.1.620 probably originated in central Africa and was introduced to Europe multiple times by recent travellers. The findings also suggest that the variant is circulating widely in central Africa but has been undetected because of limited sequencing. The work highlights the risk posed by regional inequities in genomic surveillance.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01285-4

 

[zhihau]

wah! 4D buy!

Altogether now!!! HUAT AH!!!

 

[Leongsam]

None of the variants are worse than any other so there is nothing to worry about.

 

[capamerica]

None of the variants are worse than any other so there is nothing to worry about.

Wrong. Again. Call it 0 for 244 tries, all failed

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-coronavirus-p1-variant-brazil-strain-transmission-immunity

The P.1 coronavirus variant is twice as transmissible as earlier strains​

The variant first found in Brazil can evade some immunity from previous infections​

A coronavirus variant called P.1 was first identified in the hard-hit city of Manaus, Brazil, where COVID-19 has taken a terrible toll. Many pandemic victims are buried in the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Cemetery (shown).
SANDRO PEREIRA/FOTOARENA/SIPA USA

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By Tina Hesman Saey
APRIL 14, 2021 AT 6:57 PM
The P.1 coronavirus variant first identified in Brazil may be twice as transmissible as earlier strains and may evade up to nearly half of immune defenses built during previous infections, a new study suggests.
According to data collected in Manaus, Brazil, P.1 probably arose in mid-November 2020 in the city, researchers report April 14 in Science. The variant quickly rose to prominence there and spread to the rest of Brazil and at least 37 other countries, including the United States.

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Earlier examinations of the variant’s genetic makeup have shown that P.1 contains many differences from earlier strains, including 10 amino acid changes in the spike protein, which helps the virus infect cells. Three of those spike protein changes are of concern because they are the same mutations that allow other worrisome variants to bind more tightly to human proteins or to evade antibodies (SN: 2/5/21). Simulations of P.1’s properties suggest that the variant is 1.7 to 2.4 times more transmissible than the previous SARS-CoV-2 strain. It is not clear whether that increase in transmissibility is because people produce more of the virus or have longer infections.
Some studies have hinted that people who previously had COVID-19 can get infected with P.1. The new study suggests that people who had earlier infections have about 54 percent to 79 percent of the protection against P.1 as they do against other local strains. That partial immunity may leave people vulnerable to reinfection with the variant.
Whether the virus makes people sicker or is more deadly than other strains is not clear. The researchers estimate that coronavirus infections were 1.2 to 1.9 times more likely to result in death after P.1 emerged than before. But Manaus’ health care system has been under strain, so the increase in deaths may be due to overburdened hospitals.

 

[laksaboy]

Do we have African FTs creating good jobs for Sinkies here?

 

[Rogue Trader]

Finish liao

Indian covid mutated with dysentery virus

African covid mutated with Ebola virus

 

[gingerlyn]

African virus will mutate together with Ebola。

 

[capamerica]

LOL! So funny "its just a flu" nothing to see

Until hit Sing Sing then problem LOL!

you reduce the replication, then the variants have no room to grow, right