Beta COVID-19 variant 501.V2 thread

[Okieman]

Update: New UK, South African variant Covid strains detected in Finland

Three people have been diagnosed with two different strains of the virus.

Three people who recently returned to Finland from abroad have been diagnosed with new strains of the coronavirus, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM), the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Helsinki University Hospital District (HUS).

Two of the infections are a variant of the coronavirus that was recently identified in the UK and one has been confirmed to have been infected by the variant found in South Africa.

The strains were identified in a collaboration between the HUS and the virology laboratories of the University of Helsinki.

According to the joint statement, the infected patients are presently in good condition and are being treated in isolation. People who may have been exposed to the new virus variants have been quarantined and have been asked to undergo a coronavirus test.

<snip>

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/u...nland/11716211

 

[Mary Wilson]

SA back to 'adjusted' Level 3 - here are some of the new rules

Luke Daniel , Business Insider SA
Dec 28, 2020, 08:45 PM

South Africa will be subjected to “adjusted” Level 3 lockdown regulations amid a surge of Covid-19 infections. Bans on social gatherings, an earlier curfew, and limitations on the sale of alcohol were among some of the strictest measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.
...
Jail or fine for not wearing a mask in public

It is compulsory to wear a mask in a public space. Anyone who does not wear a mask is committing an offence and can be arrested. Offenders can face up to six months in prison or a fine, or both.

“From now on it is compulsory for every person to wear a mask in a public space,” said Ramaphosa. “A person who does not wear a cloth mask covering over the nose and mouth in a public place will be committing an offence.”

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/n...as-second-wave-of-covid-19-infections-2020-12

 

[Okieman]

Coronavirus Variant in South Africa Sparks Fear of Faster Spread, Possible Reinfection

Discovery of new variant coincided with a surge in South African Covid-19 cases past the one million mark

South African doctors and researchers battling a second wave of Covid-19 cases are racing to understand what role a new coronavirus variant might play in the new surge of infections.

<snip>

Richard Lessells, an infectious-disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, or KRISP—the group of scientists who sequenced the South African variant—said its discovery has coincided with another worrying development: Doctors are reporting more patients, including health-care workers, who are testing positive for Covid-19 a second time, after having had it in the first wave.

“We are genuinely concerned, and that’s why we need to do the research to understand this variant as quickly as we can,” said Dr. Lessells.

Dr. Lessells and doctors treating Covid-19 patients in South Africa said they haven’t been able to prove whether these repeat positive tests are genuine reinfections—which many scientists have believed are exceedingly rare—or the resurgence of an earlier illness. South Africa’s public health-care system generally tests only people who have Covid-19 symptoms.

<snip>

At Tygerberg Hospital, the main public hospital treating coronavirus patients in Cape Town, doctors are seeing both patients and health-care workers testing positive again within three months of a previous infection, a spokeswoman said. What doctors don’t know, she said, is whether these repeat positives are due to true reinfections, or to some people carrying the virus for a longer time. Health officials are currently checking if they can isolate the new variant from the new testing samples, the spokeswoman said.

One intern doctor at another public hospital in Cape Town interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said four of her fellow interns had recently tested positive for a second time, after getting Covid-19 early in the first wave. Another doctor at a maternity hospital in another South African hot spot said she herself tested positive again this week after suffering Covid-19 symptoms for a second time since August.

<snip>

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronav...on-11609358056

(Okieman Comment: This article is worth reading in whole. I recommend taking the time to do so.)

 

[yielddude]

okieman, I don't have a subscription to WSJ, but if you post the whole article here, I'll read it. Thanks either way.

 

[Okieman]

South Africa Covid variant is 'more infectious' than Kent strain, professor warns


Oxford University's Regius Professor of Medicine, Sir John Bell, said the South Africa Covid variant may already be in the UK but there's no evidence it's more dangerous, just that it's more infectious
By
Lucy Skoulding

• 18:09, 3 JAN 2021

The South Africa strain of Covid is "more worrying" and there is a question mark over if current vaccines will work on it, according to Oxford University's Regius Professor of Medicine.

Sir John Bell, said the South Africa variant is more concerning than the Kent strain "by some margin" because of how quickly it can spread.

<snip>

He said: "There's still the research to be done, but if you want my gut feeling, I think the vaccine will be effective against the Kent strain and I don't know about the South African strain. I think there's a big question mark above that.

<snip>

Scientists at Porton Down laboratories are carrying out urgent studies on the new strain - which South African authorities say appears to have a larger impact on young people. South Africa recorded more than 50,000 excess deaths in 2020.

<snip>

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...-more-23255524

 

[Okieman]

South African Covid variant reported in southern Switzerland

Health officials in Italian-speaking Switzerland have reported their first case of the South African mutation of the coronavirus. Switzerland has documented at least three cases of the South African variant and ten cases of the variant from Britain, which are apparently more contagious than the original.

Health officials in Italian-speaking Switzerland have reported their first case of the South African mutation of the coronavirus. Switzerland has documented at least three cases of the South African variant and ten cases of the variant from Britain, which are apparently more contagious than the original.

<snip>

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/south-african-covid-variant-reported-in-southern-switzerland/46257338

 

[sharon sanders]

South African Covid variant appears to ‘obviate’ antibody drugs, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says


PUBLISHED TUE, JAN 5 20218:43 PM ESTUPDATED WED, JAN 6 202112:43 AM EST


snip

“The South Africa variant is very concerning right now because it does appear that it may obviate some of our medical countermeasures, particularly the antibody drugs,” said the former FDA chief in the Trump administration in an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” on Tuesday evening. “Right now that strain does appear to be prevalent in South America and Brazil, the two parts of the world, right now, that are in their summer, but also experiencing a very dense epidemic, and that’s concerning.

The South African variant is also known as 501.V2, and in mid-December officials reported that 501.V2 had been largely replacing other strains of the coronavirus as early as November. South Africa has already sustained the more than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 30,000 deaths, the most on the African continent.

Gottlieb cited experimental evidence from Bloom Lab, and explained 501.V2 does appear to partially escape prior immunity. It means that some of the antibodies people produce when they get infected with Covid, as well as the antibody drugs, may not be quite as effective.

more....

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/05/sou...te-antibody-drugs-dr-scott-gottlieb-says.html

 

[Sonny]

— Bloom Lab (@jbloom_lab) January 5, 2021​

“The new variant has mutated a part of the spike protein that our antibodies bind to, to try to clear the virus itself, so this is concerning,” Gottlieb said. “Now, the vaccine can become a backstop against these variants really getting more of a foothold here in the United States, but we need to quicken the pace of vaccination.”

“It really is a race against time trying to get more vaccine into people’s arms before these new variants become more prevalent here in the United States,” said Gottlieb.

If the 501.V2 strain can evade antibodies, then it will evade all antibodies that can bind to the spike protein of the original coronavirus strains. This includes neutralizing antibodies that the immune system produces in response to the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the neutralizing antibodies used in monoclonal drug therapies like the drug President Trump took during his bout with COVID-19, and the neutralizing antibodies that vaccines will elicit.

It’s unclear how effective vaccines will be against the South African strain, as more research will be required. Drugmakers can adapt the vaccines to address the new 501.V2 spike, but that will take some time. Even if current vaccines and antibody drugs have a lower efficacy against 501.V2, they could still provide some protection.

“The mutations that most reduce antibody binding usually occur at just a few sites in the [receptor-binding domain (RBD)]’s receptor binding motif,” Bloom Lab’s abstract reads. “The most important site is E484, where neutralization by some sera is reduced >10-fold by several mutations, including one in emerging viral lineages in South Africa and Brazil. Going forward, these serum escape maps can inform surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution.”

Bloom Lab’s study is available in preprint form at this link, but the research has not been reviewed.

Tags: 501.V2, coronavirus, covid-19, Scott Gottlieb

 

[sharon sanders]

COVID-19 South Africa variant "could evade our medicines" says drug company about antibody drug Regeneron - January 12, 2021

hat tip Michael Coston


Covid strain found in South Africa ‘could evade’ Eli Lilly’s antibody drug, CEO warns


PUBLISHED TUE, JAN 12 20218:45 AM ESTUPDATED TUE, JAN 12 20219:06 AM EST

• The Covid variant initially found in South Africa “could evade our medicines,” Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC on Tuesday.
• “The South African variant ... is the one of concern. It has more dramatic mutations to that spike protein,” Ricks said.
• By contrast, Ricks said he was confident Lilly’s antibody drug would work against the strain initially found in the U.K.

more...

Covid variant found in South Africa ‘could evade’ Eli Lilly's antibody drug: CEO (cnbc.com)


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Please see:

New COVID-19 variant identified - 501.V2 p in South Africa, South America, Brazil, Switzerland - appears to ‘obviate’ antibody drugs

B.1.1.7 Variant of COVID19 Coronavirus. More contagious. Confirmed - and critical -B117 infection of new variant of patient with antibodies for old variant

 

[Sonny]

[TABLE="border: 0, cellpadding: 6, cellspacing: 0"]
[TR]
[TD="class: alt2"]Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2, a novel lineage of the coronavirus causing COVID-19, contains multiple mutations within two immunodominant domains of the spike protein. Here we show that this lineage exhibits complete escape from three classes of therapeutically relevant monoclonal antibodies. Furthermore 501Y.V2 shows substantial or complete escape from neutralizing antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent plasma. These data highlight the prospect of reinfection with antigenically distinct variants and may foreshadow reduced efficacy of current spike-based vaccines.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...01.18.427166v1

 

[Shiloh]

South Africa has now seen 110,000 ‘excess’ deaths - with a sharp rise among the under 60s in recent weeks

Source: https://www.businessinsider.co.za/excess-deaths-in-south-africa-covid-2021-1

SA has now seen 110,000 ‘excess’ deaths - with a sharp rise among the under 60s in recent weeks
Business Insider SA
Jan 25, 2021, 05:03 PM

New data from the South African Medical Research Council show 110,000 excess deaths in South Africa since May to mid-January.
Excess deaths measure the total number of fatalities from natural causes compared with the expected death rate in a “normal” year.
It is expected that the vast majority of these deaths are linked to Covid.
SA’s second wave is far worse than its first – with a near vertical climb in the death rate of those under 60 as well.

New data released by the South African Medical Research Council show a shocking rise in the number of excess deaths in recent weeks.

Excess deaths measure the total number of fatalities from natural causes compared with the expected death rate in a “normal” year. The SAMRC uses official death statistics, as well as estimates of deaths that may not be registered, to determine the total number of fatalities in SA.

In total, the SAMRC calculates that there were more than 110,000 “excess” deaths from natural causes since May (when these deaths first started to pick up) to mid-January...

 

[Mary Wilson]

COVID-19: South African Variant Found in Thessaloniki - Greece

By Nick Kampouris
Jan 31, 2021

The new South African COVID-19 variant has been found in Thessaloniki, Greece, it was made public on Sunday.
Thessaloniki is Greece’s second-largest city and capital of the region of Macedonia. It is home to approximately one million people.

... According to Greece’s iefimerida website, the new variant has been found in positive cases reported on priests. The clergymen live and work in the broader area of Neapolis in Thessaloniki.

The two top officials’ visit to Thessaloniki was considered imperative. It came following a teleconference held earlier on Sunday with the participation of professor of infectious diseases Sotiris Tsiodras.

Other epidemiologists also participated in the teleconference. They all tried to evaluate the situation in the region.

https://greece.greekreporter.com/2021/01/31/covid-19-south-african-variant-found-in-thessaloniki/

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Treyfish]

Coronavirus: 80 cases of South African variant discovered in Israel

By MAAYAN HOFFMAN
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 19:17
There have been 80 cases of the South African XOCID-19 variant discovered in Israel, the Health Ministry reported Monday.
Some 30 cases were first discovered, the ministry said, and another 50 cases of people that they infected.
In addition, some 16 pregnant women out of 20 screened were found to be infected with the British va:tiphat:https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news...h-african-variant-discovered-in-israel-657452

 

[Treyfish]

South Africans being infected with Covid-19 variant AGAIN after recovering from virus – WHO chief scientist

12 Feb, 2021 18:03

Some people in South Africa have been re-infected with variants of Covid-19 after they had already recovered from the virus, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said on Friday.

“We are now getting reports of people getting re-infected with the new variant of the virus, and there have been some initial reports from South Africa suggesting that people who have had prior infection could get infected again,” she told a WHO news briefing.

....One study from South Africa published in pre-print format last month found the country’s indigenous mutation, 501Y.V2, showed “substantial or complete escape” from the human body’s neutralizing antibodies that target Covid-19.

“These data highlight the prospect of re-infection” and may “foreshadow reduced efficacy” of vaccines....:tiphat:https://www.rt.com/news/515422-who-south-africa-reinfection-covid/

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this