The new COVID-19 variant, called B.1.1.529, has a very unusual constellation of mutations, which are worrying because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, scientists have said.
South African scientists have detected more than 30 mutations to the spike protein, the part of the virus that helps to create an entry point for the coronavirus to infect human cells.
Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, said the variant has baffled experts. “It has a big jump in evolution, many more mutations than we expected,” de Oliveira said.
In comparison, the Beta and Delta variant respectively have three and two mutations. The latter originated in India and caused the devastating second wave last year.
“The one piece of good news is that it can be detected by a PCR test”, de Oliveira added.
The mutations are associated with increased antibody resistance, which makes the virus more contagious.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is “closely monitoring” the reported variant and is expected to meet on Friday to determine if it should be designated a variant of “interest” or of “concern”
Are COVID-19 vaccines effective against the new variant?
COVID-19 vaccines are based on the original coronavirus spike protein, raising concerns that the new dramatically different spike protein could render vaccines less effective.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the head of Emerging Diseases and Zoonosis at WHO, said on Thursday that “the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.”
“It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant has on any potential vaccines,” Van Kerkhove added.
Any new variant that is able to evade vaccines or spread faster than the now-dominant Delta variant might pose a significant threat as the world emerges from the pandemic.
But Professor Helen Rees, of the WHO’s African Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group, urged people not to panic.
Detection and response
The variant has spread rapidly through the Gauteng province of South Africa, home to the economic hub Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.
A total of about 50 confirmed cases have been identified in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana. The confirmed cases in Botswana and Hong Kong were detected among travellers from South Africa.-aljazeera
