New COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa, scientists say

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

A new COVID-19 variant of "serious concern" has been detected in South Africa, scientists said at a press conference on Thursday.

"Here is a mutation variant of serious concern," South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at the media briefing, Bloomberg reported. "We were hopeful that we might have a longer break in between waves - possibly that it would hold off to late December or even next year January."

Tulio de Oliveira, a bio-informatics professor at two universities in South Africa, said the new variant is called B.1.1529 and is "clearly very different" from past mutations of the coronavirus, with a larger number of mutations compared to previous variants such as delta.

Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said the new variant was likely created in an immunocompromised person who can carry the virus for longer than normal.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/new-covid-19-variant-detected-in-south-africa-scientists-say/ar-AAR8akJ?ocid=NL_ENUS_D1_20211125_2_2

[Ocelot II]

1. Oh, goody.

I guess it was bound to happen.

[dweller]

2. Why would this be ?

“ was likely created in an immunocompromised person who can carry the virus for longer than normal”
Seems an immunocompromised person would be afflicted quickly and worse than someone who is not …


✌🏻

[Nasruddin]

3. Virus gets a long run

The virus can get a long run in the immunocompromised because their immune system does a poor job of clearing the virus.
Example: [link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7640888/|]
There may be better papers, I just wanted to grab one quick

So ... lots of replication, lots of mutations possible ....

I think the director was just spouting off a hypothesis - how would one track this down for sure.

[dweller]

4. Ok

Thanks


✌🏻

[orangecrush]

5. Wonderful

I hope steps are being taken to contain this.

[milestogo]

6. It started in Botswana, spread to South Africa, and showed up in Hong Kong.

So, its out there.

[rockfordfile]

7. That's because of some pos loser. The ant-vax idiots in those countries.

[Ford_Prefect]

8. Due more likely to the lack of vaccine distribution...Botswana doesn't have the wealth or the

infrastructure of Europe or the US where anti-vax losers number in the millions.

[appalachiablue]

9. +

[OnlinePoker]

10. Fully vaxxed people are getting Covid, especially since the Delta variant arrived

While you're more likely to get the disease and die from it if you haven't been vaxxed, the vaccine isn't 100% effective and never will be.

[Ford_Prefect]

12. I am one of them. Fully vaxxed in April. Just got my walking paper to leave quarantine on Monday.

Delta can really F**K you up even if you aren't dying from it. There is wide variability in how much or how little COVID Delta can affect those bitten in breakthrough. It is NOT to be taken lightly that there are breakthrough infections. Currently we are seeing at least twice the rate we recently were told to expect. In addition 99% of all new infections in Montana are reported to be Delta variant, while the rate of full vaccination is just over 50%. Which means that half the people who you encounter ANYWHERE you go are likely not to be vaccinated, more in some counties than others. The 2 counties I live in and travel through are at 50% and 61% respectively.

B.1.1.529 is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, said Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute. With 8.2 million people infected with HIV, the most in the world, South Africa’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic has been complicated, as immuno-compromised people can harbor the virus for longer, scientists say. De Oliveira has previously said that the Beta variant, a mutation identified last year in South Africa, may have come from an HIV-infected person.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-25/who-meets-on-new-covid-19-variant-circulating-in-south-africa

[orangecrush]

11. So much for containment

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Germany, UK, Japan, India, Italy and Singapore restrict travel from region

Italy has also imposed an entry ban on people who have visited a group of southern African states in the last 14 days, due to the spread of a new Covid-19 variant there.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/26/covid-news-live-new-variant-sparks-tougher-restrictions-in-india-and-singapore-ahead-of-who-meeting?page=with:block-61a09e108f08a201d9c7c15a#block-61a09e108f08a201d9c7c15a

Germany will declare South Africa a virus variant area later today after the detection of a new Covid-19 variant there, a health ministry source said.

The decision, which will come into effect from tonight, will mean airlines will be allowed to fly only Germans to Germany from South Africa, according to the Reuters source. Returning Germans, even those who are vaccinated, will then have to spend 14 days in quarantine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/26/covid-news-live-new-variant-sparks-tougher-restrictions-in-india-and-singapore-ahead-of-who-meeting?page=with:block-61a090028f08a201d9c7c0af#block-61a090028f08a201d9c7c0af

Japan is now the latest country to tighten border controls for visitors from South Africa and five other African countries, as per a Jiji news service report.

India also issued an advisory to all states to rigorously test and screen travellers from the African nation and other “at risk” countries earlier on Friday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/26/covid-news-live-new-variant-sparks-tougher-restrictions-in-india-and-singapore-ahead-of-who-meeting?page=with:block-61a085bb8f084e4dfa568c2c#block-61a085bb8f084e4dfa568c2c

Singapore will restrict arrivals from south Africa and countries nearby in an effort to keep out a new Covid-19 variant, its health ministry said in a statement on Friday.

All non-Singaporean or non-permanent residents with recent travel history to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe will be denied entry or transit through Singapore, it said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/26/covid-news-live-new-variant-sparks-tougher-restrictions-in-india-and-singapore-ahead-of-who-meeting?page=with:block-61a081328f084e4dfa568bf9#block-61a081328f084e4dfa568bf9

Flights from southern Africa will be banned, with six countries placed under England’s red list travel restrictions, after scientists raised the alarm over what is feared to be the worst Covid-19 variant yet identified.

Whitehall sources said the B.1.1.529 variant, which is feared to be more transmissible and has the potential to evade immunity, posed “a potentially significant threat to the vaccine programme which we have to protect at all costs”.

Hundreds of people who have recently returned from South Africa, where the variant was detected, and neighbouring countries are expected to be tracked down and offered tests in an effort to avoid the new variant entering the UK.

Dr Tom Peacock of Imperial College London said the variant ‘could be of real concern’ but may just be an ‘odd cluster’
Scientists warn of new Covid variant with high number of mutations
Read more
The variant, which was identified on Tuesday, initially caused concern because it carries an “extremely high number” of mutations meaning that the spike protein looks different from the version that vaccines were designed to target. The latest data, presented by South African scientists on Thursday, revealed that the variant also appears to be more transmissible and is already present in provinces throughout the country.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/25/scientists-call-for-travel-code-red-over-covid-variant-found-in-southern-africa