Fogbow

The patient, an unvaccinated 31-year-old Mineral County man with no underlying health conditions, first tested positive for the delta variant and then, three weeks later, for a different strain that evolved from the delta variant, Mark Pandori, director of the lab at the University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine, told the Review-Journal this week.

Infection from COVID-19 typically results in immunity from reinfection for a minimum of several months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such rapid reinfection, especially in a young and healthy individual, could mean that the virus has mutated to a degree that makes it more resistant than previously seen to the protection afforded by past infection or from vaccination.



The strain, a sublineage of delta known as AY.26, has 31 genetic differences from delta, including on the spike protein, the part of the virus targeted by vaccines, he said. It is this genetic variety that especially concerns him.

“My concern is that there’s a scientific rationale for this being indicative of a bigger problem,” said Pandori, whose lab in August 2020 reported the first known case of COVID-19 reinfection in North America.

Scientists have said a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive further waves of disease by evading the body’s defences.

Only 10 cases in three countries have been confirmed by genomic sequencing, but the variant has sparked serious concern among some researchers because a number of the mutations may help the virus evade immunity.

The B.1.1.529 variant has 32 mutations in the spike protein, the part of the virus that most vaccines use to prime the immune system against Covid. Mutations in the spike protein can affect the virus’s ability to infect cells and spread, but also make it harder for immune cells to attack the pathogen.

The variant was first spotted in Botswana, where three cases have now been sequenced. Six more have been confirmed in South Africa, and one in Hong Kong in a traveller returning from South Africa.

Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, posted details of the new variant on a genome-sharing website, noting that the “incredibly high amount of spike mutations suggest this could be of real concern”.

Australia is well prepared should a new COVID variant, which has experts alarmed, arrive in Australia, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says.

South African scientists have detected a worrying new variant in the country.

So far only about 50 cases of the strain have been detected. But it is particularly worrying for scientists because it has double the number of mutations of the Delta variant, making them believe it might be less vulnerable to immunity from vaccinations.

Britain and Israel have already banned flights from six African nations, including South Africa and Botswana, as more cases of the fast-spreading variant are detected. They are yet to detect any cases of the variant, although it has been found in at least one Hong Kong case.

Suranis wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:06 am The real question is whether this new variant is as dangerous as the old variants. If it wants up being less dangerous, this could be a benefit as it would swamp the old ones out. As happened with Swine flu.

Hong Kong records two cases of new variant

PUBLISHED : 26 NOV 2021 AT 13:32
WRITER: NEW YORK TIMES

The Hong Kong government said Thursday that it had detected two cases of a new variant identified in South Africa, which scientists have warned shows a "big jump in evolution" and could limit the effectiveness of vaccines.

The infections were detected in a man who had returned to Hong Kong from South Africa this month, and later in another man staying across the hall in the same quarantine hotel. (Hong Kong requires almost all overseas arrivals to quarantine in hotels for two to three weeks.) The virus’s genetic sequence was identical in both men, suggesting airborne transmission, according to the city’s Center for Health Protection. Both men were vaccinated.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/22221 ... ew-variant

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 4:05 am

Hong Kong records two cases of new variant

The infections were detected in a man who had returned to Hong Kong from South Africa this month, and later in another man staying across the hall in the same quarantine hotel. (Hong Kong requires almost all overseas arrivals to quarantine in hotels for two to three weeks.) The virus’s genetic sequence was identical in both men, suggesting airborne transmission, according to the city’s Center for Health Protection. Both men were vaccinated.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/22221 ... ew-variant

A Covid-19 patient whose "selfish" valve-style face mask was blamed for a cross infection in a quarantine hotel last week has been found to be carrying a new variant of the virus with a high number of mutations, marking the first known appearance of the strain in Hong Kong.



The first patient was found to have worn a reusable mask featuring exhaust valves on multiple occasions when collecting meals and disposing of rubbish.

The masks' valves only filter air on the way in, but do not filter the air being exhaled by the wearer, prompting Hong Kong's leading microbiologist, Yuen Kwok-yung, to label them "selfish".

The CHP subsequently said people staying in any of the city's designated quarantine hotels would no longer be allowed to wear valve-style masks from Thursday onwards.

A case of the COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.529, likely to be named the Nu variant, has been detected in Belgium, according to a local virologist.

Leading local virologist Marc Van Ranst confirmed on Twitter that one COVID-19 sample was confirmed as the new strain first detected in southern Africa.

"In Belgium, one sample was confirmed as the novel B.1.1.529 variant (in a returning traveller from Egypt (11/11); first symptoms on 22/11)," he wrote.

During their PCR tests, the viral loads were VERY high considering they were negative on previous PCR tests. They had a Ct value of 18 and 19 value. So, this tell us that B.1.1.529 is likely highly contagious.


Population-Level Data

There are preliminary signs that B.1.1.529 is driving a new wave in South Africa. Health officials are looking particularly at a region called Gauteng. In just one week, test positivity rate increased from 1% to 30%. This is incredibly fast.



If we zoom out on South Africa as a whole, we see cases starting to exponentially increase. On Tuesday there were 868 cases, Wednesday there were 1,275 cases, Thursday there were over 3,500 cases. We do not know if these cases are all B.1.1.529, but the timing of explosive spread is suspect.