- James Gallagher
- Health and science journalists
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Image source, Getty Images
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More countries are tightening travel restrictions, after a new variant of the coronavirus was discovered in South Africa this week.
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Among these are Singapore and the UK, which are now enforcing stricter quarantines as well as banning flights from South Africa and surrounding countries.
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The European Union on Friday (26/11) is considering banning flights from the region.
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Scientists are studying the new variant, but say they are very worried.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) says it will take several weeks to determine the impact of the new variant, while at the same time scientists are trying to determine the rate of transmission.
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The new variant is very different from other variants that have been known so far.
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Scientists say this variant is the most mutated. This means that the vaccine developed to deal with the coronavirus from Wuhan, may not be effective.
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What do we know so far?
This latest variant is the most highly mutated found so far. One scientist even described this variant as “terrible” while another researcher said this mutation was the most severe.
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Many questions arise including how quickly this new variant spreads, and whether a vaccine can prevent it. There has been a lot of speculation but no clear answer yet.
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The latest variant is called B.1.1529 and will likely be given a Greek code name (such as the Alpha and Delta variants) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday (11/26).
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Image source, Getty Images
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In response to the emergence of this new variant, the British government is now requiring travelers from several countries from the southern part of Africa to undergo quarantine.
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UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said from 12:00 GMT on Friday, six countries would be on the red list. As a result, all flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini were suspended.
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So far, no cases of the new variant have been confirmed in the UK.
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However, there are 77 fully confirmed cases in South Africa’s Gauteng province, four in Botswana and one in Hong Kong (directly linked to travel from South Africa).
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Britain’s health minister said scientists were “extremely concerned” about the new variant but there was still much to learn.
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He said the variant had a significant number of mutations, “perhaps double the number of mutations we have seen in the Delta variant”.
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“And that likely indicates that it’s more contagious and the current vaccines we have may be less effective,” he added.
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The latest variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 is the version with the most mutations found so far. Such a long list of mutations in this new variant, one scientist called it “terrible”.
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Another scientist told James Gallagher, the BBC’s health and science correspondent, that this was the worst variant they had ever seen.
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It’s still early days and confirmed cases are still largely concentrated in one province in South Africa, although there are indications it may have spread further.
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Of course, questions immediately arise about how quickly the new variant spreads, its ability to break through the vaccine’s protection system, and what must be done about it.
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There’s been a lot of speculation, but there’s still very little clarity.
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‘Unusual and very different’
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This new variant named B.1.1.529 has been heavily mutated.
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Professor Tulio de Oliveira, director of South Africa’s Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation, said there was an “unusual constellation of mutations” and was “very different” from the other variants that had spread.
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“This variant did surprise us, because it has gone through a huge leap in the evolutionary process [dan] had more mutations than we expected,” he said.
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When speaking to the media, Prof. de Oliveira said the new variant had 50 mutations in all, more than 30 of which were found in spike protein (protein spurs). This part is the tool the virus uses to open the door to our body’s cells and is the one most vaccines target.
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Furthermore, there are 10 mutations in the binding receptor region (the part of the virus that makes first contact with our body’s cells), far more than the two mutations that the Delta variant has.
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This many mutations most likely came from a single patient who was unable to defeat the virus.
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However, having multiple mutations doesn’t automatically mean it’s a bad thing. It is important to know what the role of each of these mutations is.
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But what is of concern now is that this virus is now very different from its initial form that emerged in Wuhan, China. That means the effectiveness of the vaccines that have been developed against this early strain of the virus is likely to decrease.
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Some of the mutations in this variant have already appeared in other previously detected variants, thus providing an understanding of their possible role in the new variant.
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For example, the N501Y seems to facilitate the spread of the corona virus. There are other mutations that make it difficult for antibodies to recognize the virus and may make the vaccine less effective, but there are also a number of other mutations that are completely new.
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Professor Richard Lassells, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said: “This variant worries us that the virus may have a higher transmission rate, increasing the ability to spread from person to person, but may also evade some parts of the immune system. body.”
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There are plenty of examples of variants that look scary on paper, but that don’t come to fruition.
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The Beta variant was feared by the public at the beginning of the year because it was the best variant in avoiding the immune system. But in the end it was Delta that spread faster around the world.
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Professor Ravi Gupta, from Cambridge University, said: “Beta completely escapes the immune system and has no other mutations, Delta has modest ineffectiveness and immunity of the immune system, while variant [terbaru] it has the potential to have both to a high degree.”
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