COVID-19: ‘Most mutated variant so far’ could be better at evading vaccines
Coronavirus in numbers: Roundup of UK statistics
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Global efforts to limit the pandemic’s impact continue at pace, however, subtle changes in the contagiousness of the virus are enough to thwart attempts to stop its spread. While growing numbers of individuals have acquired some protection against the virus, early detection of variants remains one of the key elements in managing the pandemic. According to a new study, a new variant detected in South Africa could be more transmissible and evade protection provided by the vaccine, prompting researchers to keep a close eye on it.
A team of researchers in South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases claimed the strain had “substantially” mutated from the original virus.
In a non-peer reviewed paper published about the variant, they said: “[C.1.2] has since been detected across the majority of the provinces in South African and in seven other countries spanning Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
“We are currently assessing the impact of this variant on antibody neutralising following COVID-19 infection or vaccination against COVID-19 in South Africa.
“This variant has been detected throughout the third wave of infections in South Africa from May 2021 onwards. The identification of novel COVID-19 variants is commonly associated with new waves on infection.”
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Despite its low rates, the C.1.2 has garnered a lot of attention in scientific circles because it possesses mutations within the genome similar to those seen in variants of concern, such as the Delta variant.
The variant’s key mutations included N501Y AND E484K, two key mutations attributed to making the ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’ variants, respectively.
Having more mutations, however, does not necessarily make the variant more dangerous.
In fact, some mutations can weaken a virus, as each combined change of the virus could either strengthen or cancel out the effects of another.
Francois Balloux, director of University College London’s (UCL) reassured that the C.1.2 variant had not gained foothold in South Africa, where it was first detected in May.
The professor reiterated the virus showed “no evidence of increasing in frequency” and may even “be extinct by now”.
What’s more, the variant has not yet fulfilled the World Health Organisation’s [WHO] criteria to qualify as a “variant of interest” or “variant of concern”.
The WHO currently names four variants of concern, due to their easy transmission and their ability to evade vaccines.
The health watchdog considers a variant “provisionally extinct” if there have been no cases of it recorded in Britain or elsewhere in the past 12 weeks.
Speaking on Twitter, Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 for WHO, reassured that very few people diagnosed with COVID-19 had been found infected with the C.1.2 variant to date.
She wrote: “To date there are around 100 sequences of C.1.2 reported globally, the earliest reports from May ’21 from South Africa.
“At this time, C.1.2 does not appear to be rising in circulation. Monitoring and assessment of variants is ongoing and critically important to understand the evolution of this virus, in fighting COVID-19 and adapting strategies as needed.”
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