COVID Variant, Jan 3: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said in a report that since the first case of the infection was reported in Wuhan, China way back in November 2019, at least four types of coronavirus variants are circulating the globe.
The WHO said since the start of the pandemic, the UN the health agency has received several reports of unusual public health events that are possibly due to the variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The WHO also stated that a variant of SARS-CoV-2 with a D614G substitution in the gene encoding the spike protein emerged in late January or early February 2020. Over a period of several months, the D614G mutation replaced the initial SARS-CoV-2 strain that was identified in China.
By June 2020, the WHO said, the mutation became a more the dominant form of the coronavirus circulating globally.
Studies have indicated that the second strain with the D614G substitution has increased infectivity and transmission compared to the initial virus strain. The mutation, however, “does not cause more severe illness or alter the effectiveness of existing laboratory diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, or public health preventive measures“.
Another variant of the coronavirus was reported in August and September 2020 which was linked to infection among farmed mink that subsequently transmitted to humans. The fresh coronavirus variant, referred to as the “Cluster 5“, was identified in North Jutland, Denmark.
“Due to preliminary studies conducted in Denmark, there is concern that this variant has may result in reduced virus neutralization in humans, which could potentially decrease the extent and duration of immune protection following natural infection or vaccination,” the WHO report said.
In September 2020, the authorities identified only 12 human cases of the Cluster 5 variant.
On December 14, 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) government reported a variant, referred to as SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01. Interestingly, the variant was not phylogenetically related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus which has been circulating in the UK at the time the variant was detected. It remains unclear how and where SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 has originated.
Over time, more cases of coronavirus variant have been detected across the UK. By December 30, VOC-202012/01 variant has been reported in 31 other countries/territories/areas in five of the six WHO regions.
On December 18, South Africa announced the detection of a new coronavirus variants of SARS-CoV-2 that is rapidly spreading in three provinces of the country. South Africa has named this variant 501Y.V2.
“While SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 from the UK also has the N501Y mutation, phylogenetic analysis has shown that 501Y.V2 from South Africa is different virus variants. In the week beginning 16 November, routine sequencing by South African health authorities found that this new SARS-CoV-2 the variant has largely replaced other SARS-CoV-2 viruses circulating in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces,” the WHO report said.
The variant which was reported in South Africa has been reported from four other countries to date.
