The report, published by a team of scientists at Columbia University in the scientific journal Nature, highlights two signature mutations, E484K and N501Y. Lead author David Ho and his team have warned that the B.1.526 strain, also known as the Iota variant, has worrying similarities to other worrisome variants.
They wrote: “The last few months have seen outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 infection around the world with considerable viral progression1 to 3.
“Extensive mutations in the spike protein may threaten the efficacy of vaccines and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies4.”
E484K played a crucial role in the loss of neutralizing activity of antibodies, while N501Y drives the rapid worldwide transmission of the B.1.1.7 line, also known as the alpha variant, which appeared last December. , according to the report.
He added: “This variant is partially or totally resistant to two therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in clinical use and less likely to be neutralized by convalescent plasma or vaccinated sera, posing a modest antigenic challenge.
“The B.1.526 line has now been reported in all 50 states of the United States and many other countries.
“B.1.526 quickly replaced the earlier lines in New York when it emerged, with an estimated 35% transmission advantage.
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“Unfortunately, this pandemic might not go away so easily with the advent of vaccines.”
Co-author Anne-Catrin Uhlemann added: “It is worrying that in the New York area the number of cases does not appear to be declining as rapidly as in other parts of the country.
“Physical distancing and masks will slow the spread of all variants, and we need to redouble our efforts. “
Across New York state, there have been a total of 2,241,468 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
There were a total of 54,054 deaths, while 23,969,123 vaccines were administered to 11,512,007, with 58.82 percent of the population now fully immunized.
New York City was one of the first regions in the United States to be hit hard by COVID-19 last year.
A study published last year suggested that at some point a fifth of its citizens were infected with anti-coronavirus antibodies.
The study was conducted among 3,000 randomly selected people across the state.
The subjects were picked from supermarkets and had their blood tested using a state health department finger prick test.
The New York Department of Health asked how precise their study was, only said it was “very precise.”
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