London Nov 26 (BUS): An explanation given by the Associated Press on the new COVID-19 variant:
What is this new type of COVID-19 in South Africa?
South African scientists have identified a new version of the coronavirus this week that they say is behind the recent surge in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It’s unclear where the new variant actually originated from, but it was first discovered by scientists in South Africa and has also been seen in travelers to Hong Kong and Botswana.
Health Minister Joe Vahla said the variant was linked to an “exponential rise” of cases in the past few days, although experts were still trying to determine whether the new variant, called B.1.1.529, was actually responsible.
From more than 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa has seen the number of new daily cases rise to more than 1,200 on Wednesday and to 2,465 the next day. Struggling to explain the sudden rise in cases, scientists have studied virus samples from the outbreak and discovered the new variant.
South African experts said there were no indications yet that the variant was causing more serious or unusual illness, and noted that, as with other variants, some infected people had no symptoms.
Why are scientists concerned about this new alternative?
It appears to have a large number of mutations – about 30 – in the coronavirus’ spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people.
Sharon Peacock, who led the genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain at the University of Cambridge, said the data so far suggested the new variant contained mutations “consistent with improved transmissibility”, but said that “the significance of many of the mutations is still not.” a favour “. She said it would take several weeks to do the lab tests needed to determine if current coronavirus vaccines are still effective against the new alternative.
Peacock also said there is no indication that the variant causes a more deadly disease.
Francois Balloux, director of the Institute of Genetics at University College London, said the acute rate of COVID-19 infection in South Africa, particularly in Gauteng province, is worrying.
“The biggest risk is that (this alternative) is better at re-infecting people as well as being more transmissible and virulent,” he said in a statement. But Ballox said it’s not clear at this point if this is because the virus is inherently more contagious.
He emphasized that while the new variant would have been able to reinfect previously vaccinated people, “we cannot make any robust predictions based on its genetic makeup alone about its susceptibility to transmissibility or expected virulence.”
How did this new variable arise?
The coronavirus mutates as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrisome genetic changes, often die. Scientists are watching the sequence of COVID-19 for mutations that could make the disease more transmissible or fatal, but they can’t tell just by looking at the virus. They must compare the disease pattern in outbreaks to the genetic sequence and determine if there is actual contact that can take time.
Some scientists have speculated that the new variant originated in a patient with weakened immunity due to the large number of mutations. The variant “may have evolved in an infected person but was then unable to eliminate the virus, giving the virus a chance to evolve genetically,” Peacock said, in a scenario similar to how experts think of the alpha variant – which was first identified in England – also emerged. .
Are travel restrictions imposed by some countries justified?
Could. From noon on Friday, travelers arriving in the UK from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe will have to self-isolate for 10 days.
Given the recent rapid rise in COVID-19 in South Africa, restricting travel from the region is “prudent,” said Neil Ferguson, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London. He said the new variant contained an “unprecedented” number of mutations, and said that compared to previous variants, the newly identified version in South Africa could easily sidestep current vaccines.
If the new variant turns out to be more contagious than Delta, the new restrictions will have little effect, said Ballox of University College London, but they could still buy the UK some time to boost vaccination rates and roll out other potential interventions.
what happened after that?
The World Health Organization invited a technical group of experts on Friday to assess the South African data and to determine whether the new variable warrants its designation as a variable of interest or a variable of concern.
The variants of interest – which currently include mu and lambda variants – have genetic changes known to affect things like transmissibility and disease severity and have been identified to cause large clusters in multiple countries.
Variants of concern – which include alpha, beta and delta – have shown that they can spread more easily, cause more serious disease or make current tools such as vaccines less effective.
To date, the delta variant remains by far the most transmissible form of COVID; They represent more than 99% of the sequences shared with the world’s largest public database.