SARS-CoV-2 Variants - Coronavirus COVID-19 **NO DISCUSSION**

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Is a double mutant COVID variant behind India’s record surge?

““This is a variant of interest we are following,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead officer on Covid, told reporters Friday. “Having two of these mutations, which have been seen in other variants around the world, are concerning,” she said, adding that there was a similarity with mutations that increase transmission as well as reduce neutralization, possibly stunting the ability of vaccines to curb them.”

 

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India Covid-19 second wave: Shortage of oxygen, beds and even cremation slots

“Variants in play
India on 25 March announced that a new "double mutant" variant of the coronavirus had been detected from samples collected from different states.

Virologist Shahid Jameel explained that a "double mutation in key areas of the virus's spike protein may make the virus more infectious and allow it to escape the immune system".”

He says the change in the virus is the only "logical explanation" behind the surge. Health officials in the UK are now investigating whether a double mutant spreads more easily and evades vaccines.

 

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Covid: Indian variant being investigated in UK

“There is not yet enough data to classify it as a "variant of concern", a leading scientist has said.”

 

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Texas A&M researchers discover a new COVID-19 variant in College Station
April 19, 2021

 

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Israel logs Indian COVID-19 variant, sees some vaccine efficacy against it | Reuters

“Israel has registered eight cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India and believes that the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) vaccine is at least partially effective against it, an Israeli health official said on Tuesday.”

 

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COVID-19 Variants Spreading in India Are a Global Concern

“Chanda, Gupta and others are also investigating whether another phenomenon might be at work driving the severe disease in India. It’s possible that people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, but who did not have a severe case of COVID-19, might get even sicker if they are reinfected—a dynamic seen with some other disease-causing viruses, like dengue.

Researchers refer to this phenomenon—in which people are infected and only partially successful in fighting the virus so they continue to harbor the infection for months rather than days—as “suboptimal protection.” In one such patient, who was infected for about four months, Gupta documented the steady changes the virus made as it mutated to become better and better at evading any immune responses directed against it. “Some people can’t clear the virus—they get infected and they can’t get rid of it—so they have some immunity to the virus but the virus learns to live with their immune system, and makes mutations to adapt. And those same mutations adapt again when they infect someone else.””

 

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India Blames a Virus Variant as Its Covid-19 Crisis Deepens

““The current wave of Covid has a different clinical behavior,” said Dr. Sujay Shad, a senior cardiac surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where two of the doctors needed supplemental oxygen to recover. “It’s affecting young adults. It’s affecting families. It’s a new thing altogether. Two-month-old babies are getting infected.””

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“India’s worries have focused on a homegrown variant called B.1.617. The public, the popular press and many doctors have concluded that it is responsible for the severity of the second wave.

Researchers outside of India say the limited data so far suggests instead that a better-known variant called B.1.1.7 may be a more considerable factor. That variant walloped Britain late last year, hit much of Europe and is now the most common source of new infection in the United States.

“While it’s almost certainly true B.1.617 is playing a role, it’s unclear how much it’s contributing directly to the surge and how that compares to other circulating variants, especially B.1.1.7,” said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.”

*more at link

 

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(Via @MajorHoople)

Coronavirus: Indian variant cases in the UK rise to 400 and there are now three types | Daily Mail Online

“Health chiefs have now split the B.1.617 variant, as it is known to virologists, into three distinct virus types because it has mutated into similar but genetically different strains.

Scientists can't yet tell whether any of the three spread quicker than the Kent strain, which is dominant in Britain. But they don't think it does based on current evidence, and also don't believe it is any more like to cause serious illness or death.”

 

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April 30, 2021

Michigan confirms first case of another new COVID variant, this one from India

B.1.617 strain spreads to Michigan with Clinton County case identified

First case of India COVID-19 variant B.1.617 confirmed in Michigan

COVID-19 b1617 'double-mutant' India variant identified in Michigan

 

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New COVID Variant Found For The First Time In Colorado In Mesa County

“A coronavirus variant that was first identified in India has been discovered in Colorado for the first time.

State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy told reporters in a press briefing Thursday that five cases of the B1617.2 strain had been identified in Mesa County. None of the people had a recent travel history.”

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Colorado’s first cases of COVID-19 variant found in India identified in Mesa County – The Denver Post

 

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Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2104974

 

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Is The Variant From India The Most Contagious Coronavirus Mutant On The Planet?

“Now Wenseleers has performed similar analyses on data from India, and he's feeling a bit of a déjà vu.

Based on this data, the new variant from India has a very big transmission or growth advantage," even over B.1.1.7, he says. "It's kind of like the U.K. variant squared."

[...]

“For these reasons, other researchers are again dubious of Wenseleers' findings.

Karthik Gangavarapu, who's a computational biologist at Scripps Research Institute, is one of them. "I don't think the story is clear yet," he says. "I'm not saying B.1.617 isn't more transmissible than B.1.1.7, I'm just saying there's a burden of proof you need to establish before you can say that."”

 

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Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant shows enhanced host cell entry and immune evasion
May 6, 2021

 

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Coronavirus variants: What we know so far - CNN

By Maggie Fox, CNN
Updated 7:48 PM ET, Fri May 7, 2021

(CNN) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week it had designated a coronavirus variant first seen in India as a "variant of interest," adding it to the growing collection of viral variants it's keeping an eye on.

Vaccine makers are so worried about the chance new variants will escape the protection offered by immunization that they are already testing booster shots and tweaking their vaccine formulas to specifically target some of the more troubling variants.
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The article discusses the variants labeled "variants of interest" and "variants of concern." "Currently there are no SARS-CoV-2 variants that rise to the level of high consequence," CDC says.

 

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“An updated DPHHS document shows Montana has confirmed cases of the P.1 and B.1.617.2 COVID-19 variants in the state, also known as the Brazil and India variants.

The document, updated Friday, shows a total of 188 variant cases, with 175 being categorized as a “variant of concern.””

Brazil, India COVID-19 variants detected in Montana

https://dphhs.mt.gov/Portals/85/pub.../2019-nCoV/Reports/VariantWebUpdate050721.pdf

 

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Covid: Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs work against Indian variant - study

 

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Vietnam detects hybrid of Indian and UK COVID-19 variants

Vietnam Detects New Highly Transmissible Coronavirus Variant

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/29/vietnam-hybrid-variant-covid-virus/

Covid: Vietnam detects new UK-Indian variant, health officials say

"Very dangerous" COVID variant found in Vietnam highly transmissible, replicates quickly

Vietnam finds new virus variant, hybrid of India, UK strains

 

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Pfizer Vaccine Protects Less Against India Variant

“June 4, 2021 -- The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine produces lower levels of antibodies against the Delta variant, known as B.1.617.2 and discovered in India, according to a new studypublished Thursday in The Lancet.”

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““This virus will likely be around for some time to come, so we need to remain agile and vigilant,” Emma Wall, PhD, the lead study author and an infectious diseases specialist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said in a statement.”

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Delta Covid variant first found in India spreads to 62 countries, hot spots form in Asia and Africa, WHO says
June 2, 2021

• The Covid variant now named Delta, which was first detected in India, has been reported in 62 countries, the WHO said Wednesday.
• The P.1 variant, now named Gamma, which was first detected in Japan in people who had traveled from Brazil, has spread to 64 countries.
• The WHO’s new naming system for Covid variants, after letters of the Greek alphabet, simplify the scientific names and avoid stigmatizing countries that detect new strains.

 

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B.1.617.2 variant first identified in India may increase risk of hospitalization, UK officials say - CNN

“The B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant that was first identified in India is now believed to be dominant in the United Kingdom, Public Health England (PHE) said Thursday, adding that early evidence suggests it could cause an increased risk of hospitalization in comparison to the strain that was first detected in England.

While PHE cautioned that more data is needed, its early findings showed that the B.1.617.2 or "Delta" variant was more likely to cause serious illness than the B.1.1.7 or "Alpha" variant, which had been dominant in the UK since it was first detected in southeast England last fall.”