The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Corona mutation: Scientists warn against AY.3

2021-08-20T13:32:45.225Z


Another delta variant is spreading in the south of the USA. The UK and Israel are also seeing infections with the new mutation. Karl Lauterbach speculates that it seems "to be even more contagious than the Delta variant."


Enlarge image

In the USA, the number of corona infections with the Delta sub-variant AY.3 is increasing

Photo: JEENAH MOON / REUTERS

Corona researchers in several countries are warning of another mutation in the corona virus.

"AY.3" is a sub-variant of Delta and has been spreading in Great Britain, the USA and Israel for a few weeks.

The number of cases is still low and a precise risk assessment is not possible, but according to scientists, the available data indicate a further increased risk of infection.

"These are definitely the first clear signs of a potentially worrying variant in a while," warned Christina Pagel, a professor at University College London, on Twitter.

In parts of England, the proportion of AY.3 in corona infections is increasing at a still low level.

It is conceivable, but not certain, that the variant will replace the original delta mutation.

This was suggested by data from the east of the country.

While the new variant in Great Britain hardly affects the total number of new infections with Covid-19, it is already different in some southern states of the USA, Pagel continues. In Missouri and Mississippi, the share of AY.3 in infections is already 43 and 45 percent, as data from the US Disease Protection Agency CDC show. It is still early and there is so far no evidence of the increased risk of infection, "but we've seen it before and we should start preparing," writes Pagel.

In Israel, the Ministry of Health announced that AY.3 was already in the country and was believed to have been brought in from the United States.

"It looks very, very virulent in terms of the infection rate, and it looks like she's developing relative resistance to the vaccine," Asher Shalmon, head of international relations, told a parliamentary committee.

"This variant could be a turning point and drive us into the lockdown that we are trying so hard to avoid," warned Shalmon, according to the newspaper "Haaretz".

The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach wrote on Twitter that the new Sars-CoV-2 variant seemed "to be even more contagious than the Delta variant."

This reminds us »how important it is to have a quick vaccination success.

In any case, there will be even more dangerous variants than Delta. "

The World Health Organization (WHO) counts the delta mutation and its sub-variants among the currently four particularly worrying versions of the coronavirus: Alpha first appeared in Great Britain, Beta in South Africa, Gamma in Brazil and Delta in India.

fww

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-08-20

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.