(CNN)The discovery of a new and potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant by South African health authorities has sparked a forceful reaction across the world with a number of countries banning travelers from several southern African countries.
Currently known as B.1.1.529, the newly identified variant has now been detected further afield in Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium.
It appears to be spreading rapidly in parts of South Africa and scientists are concerned that its unusually high number of mutations could make it more transmissible and result in immune evasion.
"Initially it looked like some cluster outbreaks, but from yesterday, the indication came from our scientists from the Network of Genomic Surveillance that they were observing a new variant," Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Thursday, stressing that it is currently unclear where the variant first emerged.
South African officials initially said there was one confirmed case in a traveler from South Africa to Hong Kong. Then Hong Kong health authorities on Friday identified a second case of the B.1.1.529 variant among returning travelers on the same floor of a designated quarantine hotel.
Also on Friday, the Belgian government said that one individual who had recently arrived from abroad, and was not vaccinated, had tested positive for the new variant, marking the first case in Europe.
Reinfection from Covid-19 is rare, severe disease is even rarer, a study of people in Qatar finds
Tulio de Oliveira, the director of South Africa's Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation, said the variant has "many more mutations than we have expected," adding it is "spreading very fast and we expect to see pressure in the health system in the next few days and weeks."
Viruses, including the one that causes Covid-19, mutate regularly and most new mutations do not have significant impact on the virus's behavior and the illness they cause.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will hold a meeting on Friday to decide whether the B.1.1.529 variant should be considered one "of interest" or "of concern," designations that signify the amount of risk that it could pose to global public health. WHO added it would "share further guidance for government on actions they can take."
Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading variant in South Africa poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w
Researchers in South Africa are racing to track the concerning rise of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The variant harbours a large number of the mutations found in other variants, including Delta, and it seems to be spreading quickly across South Africa.
A top priority is to follow the variant more closely as it spreads: it was first identified in Botswana earlier this month and has since turned up in a traveller arriving in Hong Kong from South Africa. Scientists are also trying to understand the variant’s properties, such as whether it can evade immune responses triggered by vaccines and whether it causes more or less severe disease than other variants do.
“We’re flying at warp speed,” says Penny Moore, a virologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, whose lab is gauging the variant’s potential to dodge immunity from vaccines and previous infections. There are anecdotal reports of reinfections and of cases in vaccinated individuals, but “at this stage it’s too early to tell anything”, Moore adds.
“There’s a lot we don’t understand about this variant,” Richard Lessells, an infectious-diseases physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, said at a press briefing organized by South Africa’s health department on 25 November. “The mutation profile gives us concern, but now we need to do the work to understand the significance of this variant and what it means for the response to the pandemic.”
A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group will meet on 26 November, and will probably label the strain — currently known as B.1.1.529 — as a variant of concern or variant of interest, Tulio de Oliveira, a bioinformatician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said at the briefing. The variant will probably be named Nu — the next available letter in the Greek alphabet naming system for coronavirus variants — if it is flagged by the WHO group.
Researchers also want to measure the variant’s potential to spread globally — possibly sparking new waves of infection or exacerbating ongoing rises being driven by Delta.
Researchers spotted B.1.1.529 in genome-sequencing data from Botswana. The variant stood out because it contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein — the SARS-CoV-2 protein that recognizes host cells and is the main target of the body’s immune responses. Many of the changes have been found in variants such as Delta and Alpha, and are linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.
The apparent sharp rise in cases of the variant in South Africa’s Gauteng province — home to Johannesburg — is also setting off alarm bells. Cases increased rapidly in the province in November, particularly in schools and among young people, according to Lessells. Genome sequencing and other genetic analysis from de Oliveira’s team found that the B.1.1.529 variant was responsible for all 77 of the virus samples they analysed from Gauteng, collected between 12 and 20 November. Analysis of hundreds more samples are in the works.
The variant harbours a spike mutation that allows it to be detected by genotyping tests that deliver results much more rapidly than genome sequencing does, Lessells said. Preliminary evidence from these tests suggest that B.1.1.529 has spread considerably further than Gauteng. “It gives us concern that this variant may already be circulating quite widely in the country,” Lessells said.
To understand the threat B.1.1.529 poses, researchers will be closely tracking its spread in South Africa and beyond. Researchers in South Africa mobilized efforts to quickly study the Beta variant, identified there in late 2020, and a similar effort is starting to study B.1.1.529.
Moore’s team — which provided some of the first data on Beta’s ability to dodge immunity — has already begun work on B.1.1.529. They plan to test the virus’s ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies, as well as other immune responses. The variant harbours a high number of mutations in regions of the spike protein that antibodies recognize, potentially dampening their potency. “Many mutations we know are problematic, but many more look like they are likely contributing to further evasion,” says Moore. There are even hints from computer modelling that B.1.1.529 could dodge immunity conferred by another component of the immune system called T cells, says Moore. Her team hopes to have its first results in two weeks.
“A burning question is ‘does it reduce vaccine effectiveness, because it has so many changes?’,” says Aris Katzourakis, who studies virus evolution at the University of Oxford, UK. Moore says breakthrough infections have been reported in South Africa among people who have received any of the three kinds of vaccines in use there, from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer–BioNTech and Oxford–AstraZeneca. Two quarantined travellers in Hong Kong who have tested positive for the variant were vaccinated with the Pfizer jab, according to news reports. One individual had travelled from South Africa; the other was infected during hotel quarantining.
Researchers in South Africa will also study whether B.1.1.529 causes disease that is more severe or milder than that produced by other variants, Lessells said. “The really key question comes around disease severity.”
So far, the threat B.1.1.529 poses beyond South Africa is far from clear, researchers say. It is also unclear whether the variant is more transmissible than Delta, says Moore, because there are currently low numbers of COVID-19 cases in South Africa. “We’re in a lull,” she says. Katzourakis says that countries where Delta is highly prevalent should be watching for signs of B.1.1.529. “We need to see what this virus does in terms of competitive success and whether it will increase in prevalence.”
https://nypost.com/2021/11/26/what-to-know-about-whos-meeting-on-new-b-1-1-529-covid-19-variant/
Reliable Statistics on COVID/opinions +Virus Season
19 responses |
Started by metmike - Nov. 11, 2021, 7:54 p.m.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/583085-europes-covid-19-surge-highlights-warnings-for-us
Despite the European Union having a higher vaccination level than the U.S., parts of Europe saw a record number of coronavirus infections on Wednesday.
The spike in cases has prompted Austria to reimpose a lockdown, while Belgium has moved to righten rules including a mask mandate amid its own surge, sparking protests.
Tough measures like a lockdown, or anything like it, are not expected in the United States, where there is no appetite among the public and the Biden administration has dismissed the idea.
But experts say Europe’s crisis shows that the virus remains a major threat, particularly anywhere there are unvaccinated people.
“If you’ve got unvaccinated population, the virus is going to find them,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Austria, which is going into lockdown amid a major surge in cases and deaths, has 64.5 percent of its population fully vaccinated, close to the average for Europe, compared to 59 percent in the U.S.
“In places where you do have Austria-like vaccination rates or lower, I think the risk is definitely there for cases to surge,” said Josh Michaud, associate director for global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The risk is overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated. Updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that in September, unvaccinated people were 5.8 times more likely to test positive for the virus and 14 times more likely to die from it.
Experts stress that the most important response is to get more people vaccinated. In the U.S., those efforts have hit resistance, though the Biden administration is trying to break through with an array of mandates.
Protection from the vaccines is also waning over time, leaving more people exposed to generally milder breakthrough cases. That has led to a push to get booster shots to all vaccinated U.S. adults.
“With a large number of people who are still not vaccinated, and reduced vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild disease, many people are left vulnerable to the virus,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in explaining Europe's surge while also pointing to the transmissibility of the delta variant and more people gathering inside after restrictions were eased.
The WHO warned that with current trends, Europe and Central Asia would see an additional 700,000 deaths from the virus, from 1.5 million to 2.2 million, by the spring.
Adalja said the main step to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed is to get more people their initial vaccine doses, since the vaccines are highly effective against hospitalization. But he said as much as 80 percent of the population being fully vaccinated could be needed to provide “resiliency” against surges.
Michaud noted that within Europe, countries like Spain and Portugal with very high vaccination rates over 80 percent are faring better.
Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, tweeted that boosters would also help, pointing to data from the U.K. showing larger declines in hospital admissions among older age groups receiving boosters.
“Boosters (3rd shots) are working, as seen by fewer hospital admissions among the age groups receiving them,” he wrote.
While not currently as bad as in Europe, cases are also on the rise in the U.S., and hospitals in some states are again stressed.
But the Biden administration is clear that it does not see a return to anything close to a lockdown in the U.S.
“We are not headed in that direction,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Monday when asked about Austria. “We have the tools to accelerate the path out of this pandemic: widely available vaccinations; booster shots; kids’ shots; therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies to help those who contract the virus.”
The country is in a delicate moment in the COVID-19 response. Many people are fatigued with restrictions and eager to return to a normal life. Many experts as well say that a point is approaching when the virus will be “endemic,” meaning it will fade into more of a fact of life in the background rather than a crisis.
Vaccinations for children, as well as promising new antiviral treatments from Pfizer and Merck, can help bring that moment closer.
Washington, D.C., this week officially lifted its mask mandate. D.C. health department director LaQuandra Nesbitt said, “We are learning to live with COVID.”
While it is dismissing lockdowns, the Biden administration is still stressing the importance of mask mandates, even if most states have already left them behind.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said last week that her agency still recommends that areas have low levels of transmission for several weeks “before releasing mask requirements.”
The continued threat is also evident in surges within the U.S., like in Michigan, where hospitalizations are spiking.
Michigan hospital officials warned this week that the spike is “straining or exceeding the capacity of emergency departments and hospitals across the state.”
The officials called on the public to get vaccinated, get a booster dose and to exercise caution with indoor events, including wearing masks.
“We cannot wait any longer for Michigan to correct course; we need your help now to end this surge and ensure our hospitals can care for everyone who needs it,” they said.
The new omicron variant of the coronavirus could already be in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci says.
“I would not be surprised if it is,” the White House’s chief medical adviser told NBC’s Weekend Today.
“We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re already having travel-related cases that they’ve noted in Israel and Belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over,” he said Saturday.
The US will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other nearby countries beginning Monday, as fears grow over the new variant. The variant, named by WHO after a letter in the Greek alphabet, was first detected in South Africa.
“The issue of blocking travel from a given country is to just give us time to assess it better,” Fauci said. “That’s the reason for doing that, not any reason to panic, but we want to give us some time to really fill in the blanks of what we don’t know right now.”
He said people shouldn’t panic about the new COVID-19 variant, but should continue to take precautions like wearing masks, social distance and avoid large indoor gatherings. He also said the threat of this new variant should also encourage people to get vaccinated.
“The vaccines that we use may very well be able to contain this, and then [omicron] won’t be as serious as some people are surmising it might be,” he said. “A lot of unknowns, which is the reason why we’re all over this.”
The discovery of a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa this week caused alarm and swift action from a number of countries including travel restrictions. Here’s what you need to know about Omicron.
Scientists looked at virus samples and discovered the new variant after South African cases began to explode this week after holding at about 200 a day. Cases neared 2,500 on Thursday.
The World Health Organization gave it that designation after a letter in the Greek alphabet. The WHO also labeled it a variant of concern, the only one to get that designation since Delta emerged in India in late 2020
The seemingly high number of mutations — about 30 — in the coronavirus’ spike protein could mean it spreads easily. That is about double the number of mutations of the Delta variant, and could mean increased transmissibility. But the significance of the mutations “is still not known,” according to Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain.
There’s no indication that the variant will cause a more severe illness. WHO said there was “preliminary evidence” to suggest an increased risk of reinfection with Omicron for those who have already had the virus as compared to other variants. No unusual symptoms have been reported with this variant, which can also led to asymptomatic cases, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
Scientists say it’s too soon to tell and that answer will take a few weeks. One expert, Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, called it “extremely unlikely” that current vaccines wouldn’t work, noting they are effective against numerous other variants.
"You don’t want to frighten the American public but when something occurs that you need to take seriously, you take it seriously," Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
It's really bad again in Michigan!!!
Named after the Greek letter, the omicron variant is the 13th variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has received a Greek designation under the World Health Organization's classification system for variants of interest or concern.
As with other named variants, WHO's Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution said the variant rose to the level of concern given its "several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes."
Several others, such as delta, which caused the United States' spike in cases over the summer, remain listed as variants of concern or interest and also have Greek letter names, while others have dropped off and are now labeled "variants under monitoring" or "formerly monitored variants."
When variants first became a wider concern for the general public, many people were referring to them by the name of the country where they were first detected, such as the "U.K. variant." But that's "not the right way of thinking about it," said Dr. Waleed Javaid, a professor of infectious diseases and medicine and director of infection control at Mount Sinai hospitals in New York.
"The virus is going to spread as the virus does. It is infectious and it infects other people. And it's not really based on a location. It is based on its infectivity," he told USA TODAY.
In May, WHO announced it would use a new system for naming variants to avoid confusion and stigmas to countries where the variants are first documented.
Omicron's scientific name under the Pango system, from the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak group, is B.1.1.529, which conveys scientific information about its lineage.
Why we're using the Greek alphabet:WHO renames COVID-19 variants with Greek letter names to avoid confusion, stigma
WHO said the goal of using the Greek alphabet is to make it easier and more practical for nonscientific communities to discuss the variants. Javaid said he has found using the Greek letters is helpful when communicating with patients or staff members who are not trained in understanding the technical aspects of the variants' differences.
Calling variants by the names of countries may also create unfair stigmas when the variants may not have originated in those countries and were only first detected there.
South Africa reported the first case of the omicron variant to WHO on Nov. 24. Its first known infection was from samples collected Nov. 9, but Botswana also had samples collected Nov. 11 with the variant present. WHO lists "multiple countries" for its earliest documented samples as a result.
Omicron can be pronounced both ä-mə-ˌkrän or ō-ˈmī-(ˌ)krän, according to Merriam-Webster.
Moved this NTR post down here from the trading forum. Thanks
Omicron
11 responses |
Started by Jim_M - Dec. 3, 2021, 1:08 p.m.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/78641/
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By cutworm - Dec. 4, 2021, 7:42 a.m.
I know that this is NTR but this thread is here so move if you want.
This shows the extent of conflicting information.
Biden African travel ban built on a lie: Journalist - YouTube
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By TimNew - Dec. 4, 2021, 7:52 a.m.
I disagree Cutworm. I think Covid, and the subsequent government reactions are very TR, and the markets suport that view.
cutworm,
That was an excellent post!
