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In mid-December, there was a lot of noise about the new British strain of the coronavirus. This variant is spreading rapidly. Its presence has already been recorded in most European countries, Canada and Japan. Meanwhile, South Africa, Italy and Nigeria reported the next strain. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like other coronaviruses, mutates on average once a month, but are the new strains more infectious and the infection is more severe?
- RNA viruses, which include the SARS-CoV-2 virus, mutate frequently
- The British strain is already present in most of Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia
- Two-thirds of Britons testing positive for the coronavirus may have been infected by the new strain
- Prof. Lawrence Young of Warwick Medical School: – UK and South African strains show changes in the spike gene, hence the possibility that they are more contagious
- You can find more about the coronavirus on the TvoiLokony home page
The new virus variant has been located in several European countries as well as Canada and Japan. The infections were imported from Great Britain to Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and France. However, a pair of infected Canadians (residents of Durham, near Toronto) have not traveled to Europe, nor have they had contact with infected British citizens.
Japan introduced an entry ban for foreign nationals after five passengers who flew in from the UK reported the infection. Later, two more cases were confirmed there, one of which is imported – it is a 16-year-old pilot who flew to Japan from London on December XNUMX. The second is a woman in his twenties from his family.
In Spain, four cases of a new variant were confirmed in Madrid. All infected returned from Britain, but none became seriously ill.
Three cases were reported by Swiss authorities. Two are British nationals on leave there. Switzerland is the only European country that has not closed its ski slopes for the Christmas and New Year period, so thousands of tourists enjoy the charms of winter there.
Sweden has one documented case of COVID-19 caused by a new strain of coronavirus. It is about a traveler who has returned from Great Britain.
France also confirmed its first case. An infected resident of Tours arrived from London on December 19. The French health ministry said a man who works in the UK has no symptoms of the disease and is in home quarantine.
Prof. Christian Drosten, a virologist at Charite Hospital in Berlin, says that despite isolation attempts, the mutation has long spread to the European continent and other parts of the world. After all, the virus has been present in England since at least the end of September.
“Now we know: he’s already in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and even Australia,” he says. – He’s also in Germany.
Data from Nextstrain, which monitors the genetic codes of virus samples, suggests the cases in Denmark and Australia were triggered by the British SARS-CoV-2 mutation. It was similar in the Netherlands.
Experts say that while the new variant spreads much faster (70%), it is not necessarily more dangerous.
The new variant, known as VUI-202012/01, was first detected in the south of England in September and is now responsible for most infections in London, the South East and East of England.
British Health Minister Matt Hancock said before Christmas that more than 6 were reported in these areas. infections with a new virus strain. On the other hand, estimates by the UK Statistics Office (ONS) say that two-thirds of people who tested positive for the coronavirus could have been infected with a new variant of the virus. The data also says that most cases of COVID-19 from it have occurred in people under the age of 60.
Why was this variant interesting for scientists? It has three important features:
- quickly replaces other strains of the virus
- his mutations affected an important part of the virus. There have been changes to the spike protein – this is the key the virus uses to unlock the door to our body’s cells. A mutation called N501Y changed the most important part of the spike, known as the “receptor binding domain”, where the spike contacts the cell surface.
- laboratory studies have shown that some of the mutations increase the virus’s ability to infect cells.
“We suspect we are dealing with a virus that spreads more easily,” says BBC health and science correspondent James Gallagher. – But experts say vaccines are effective in his case as well.
The virus that was detected in Wuhan last year is not the same virus that is currently circulating around the world. In February, the D614G mutation, which still dominates the world, appeared. Another, A222V, spread throughout Europe thanks to tourists who spent their holidays in Spain.
The president of the Italian Society of Virology, Arnaldo Caruso, announced yesterday that an Italian strain of the virus had been discovered in Lombardy. A strain that is very similar to the British but slightly older has been grinning in Italy for the summer. It was discovered by accident in November, after sequencing the genetic code of the virus that caused an unusual infection.
Another new strain was discovered in Nigeria in two patient samples taken on August 3 and October 9. Both patients live in the state of Osun, in the south of the country. Unlike the UK variant, the mutation, called P681H, has not been proven to increase viral transmission.
The variant identified in South Africa also shares many features with the British one.
— The South African variant may also spread faster – claims prof. Julian Tang, virologist at the University of Leicester.
This variety is characterized by many spike mutations. It appeared in the South African capital after the first wave of the epidemic, and then spread rapidly. It is now the predominant variant of the virus in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces.
– Virus strains from Great Britain and South Africa show changes in the spike gene – says Prof. Lawrence Young of Warwick Medical School. – Hence the possibility that they are more contagious. But standard precautions (hygiene and decontamination) will prevent infection even with these variants.
Professor Young added that the degree of infectivity of the South African variant has not yet been investigated. It is also not known whether the disease caused by it is more severe.
Scientists emphasize that different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have existed since the beginning of the pandemic and are a product of the natural process of replication by which viruses develop and adapt to their hosts. Most mutations do not affect the behavior of the virus.
To date, many thousands of coronavirus mutations have been identified, and some 4000 spike mutations alone have been found. However, we do not have studies to determine whether these new strains affect the severity of COVID-19 symptoms, immune system response, or vaccine efficacy.
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