A new variant (B.1.1.529) of the SarsCoV2 virus has been identified in South Africa which is of concern, as its impact is not yet known.
It is known to have
numerous mutations of the Spike protein
that could theoretically increase its transmissibility and the ability to evade antibodies.
The variant, according to a WHO bioinformatician,
could be called Nu
.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring it and has announced that an expert meeting will be held in Geneva.
The aim is to clarify whether we are dealing with a variant of "interest" or a variant of "concern".
But it will take several weeks to know what this potentially means in terms of contagiousness and the impact on diagnoses, treatments and vaccines.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is also studying the development of the situation and will publish a threat assessment document.
For its part, the pharmaceutical company
Pfizer
is also studying the new variant of Covid-19 and expects to have the first results "at the latest within two weeks". The decisive question, in fact, is to
understand whether the new coronavirus variant can evade vaccines
. According to its diffusion, it is a "very worrying factor", said British health minister Sajid Javid, referring to the House of Commons. "I must emphasize that this is a rapidly changing situation and a high degree of uncertainty remains," he added.
"Partial evasion of the immune response is likely, but vaccines will still offer high levels of protection against hospitalization and death." Instead, it is one of the salient passages of the question and answer page on the new variant B.1.1.529 prepared by the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the public institute of reference on infectious diseases. "Currently, no unusual symptoms have been reported following infection with variant B.1.1.529 and, as with other variants - says the Institute - some individuals are asymptomatic".
The European Commission will propose to stop flights from the Southern African region due to variant B.1.1.529.
Italy has already banned entry to those who have been in
South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini
in the last 14 days
.
Israel has detected the first case of the new South African variant B.1.1.529 within its territory.
It is an Israeli returning from Malawi.
Then there are 2 other people suspected of being infected with the new variant but are awaiting the final tests.
All 3 involved turn out to be vaccinated.
The new variant of the coronavirus scares the markets and
sinks the European stock exchanges
.
