- A new coronavirus mutation was discovered in South Africa, where a version called 501.V2 appears to be fueling the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.
- The new strain appears to be more dangerous and causes more serious illness in younger patients who do not have other medical conditions.
- Health experts believe the new SARS-CoV-2 strain can still be defeated with current vaccines.
Like any other pathogen, the new coronavirus is constantly evolving in response to the hosts it infects. It’s a mutation that allowed the virus to jump species between animals and eventually reach humans. At least, that’s what researchers think happened to the original species that infected the first humans. The upcoming WHO investigation in China could provide more answers about the early days of the Wuhan outbreak.
SARS-CoV-2 continued to mutate afterward, with scientists closely monitoring those genetic changes. This is crucial because mutations can make a virus more contagious or dangerous and hinder research into drugs and vaccines. Several notable new strains of coronavirus have been found so far. The D614G mutation is believed to be responsible for the current status of the pandemic. This mutation does not make the virus more dangerous, but it has become more contagious. The D614G left China and contaminated most of the world and returned to Asia a few months later. Other strains have since been discovered, including a few new versions of coronavirus that are spreading rapidly in the UK and South Africa. Now it seems that the latter may be the more dangerous of the two.
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The Cluster 5 mutation in the Danish mink sent the world into a brief frenzy a few weeks ago. The local government warned that the mutation could evade neutralizing antibodies that could block the virus’s spike protein. These proteins are formed when someone beats the virus after infection or through a vaccine. However, concerns about mutations in mink have subsided since the early fear, and it seems that current vaccines may still work against this new species.
A few days ago, British health officials announced that a new coronavirus mutation was spreading quickly in the south of the country. The species exhibited 17 different genetic changes, most of which affected the spike protein. One of them is called N501Y and affects the receptor binding motif of the spike protein, according to the UK COVID-19 Genomics Consortium. According to public health officials, the mutation did not appear to cause more serious illness.
Now, a few days later, South African authorities have reported a new SARS-CoV-2 mutation apparently driving the second wave in the country. South Africa is approaching 1 million infections, with more than 24,000 people dying from COVID-19 complications. The second wave started in mid-November, when the country registered more than 10,000 cases in one day a few days ago. This appears to be the local peak of the second wave, but the number of cases may continue to rise.
South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced the virus’s 501.V2 mutation, reports The East African. Unlike the British strain, it can cause a more serious illness. The official said on Twitter that local clinicians had found anecdotal evidence of patient presentation at the clinic. They said that a higher proportion of younger people develop serious illness without suffering from other comorbidities.
“The evidence gathered therefore strongly suggests that the second wave we are experiencing is driven by this new variant,” Mkhize said during a virtual briefing on Friday.
The second wave also appears to be spreading faster than the previous one, local officials said. The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) discovered the mutation in several provinces and found between 10-20 mutations that had not been seen in other strains since September. It is unclear whether the new version came from.
Health officials “remain confident” that current vaccines against the new strain will work, says The East African.
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Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby and before he knew it, he was sharing his thoughts on tech stuff with readers around the world. When not writing about gadgets, he sadly fails to stay away from them, though he desperately tries. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.