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Model of a coronavirus in the human body
Photo: Michael Bihlmayer / imago images / Bihlmayerfotografie
It is not good news to come from the Cape of Good Hope these days.
Because a new variant of the coronavirus has appeared in South Africa, which worries scientists from all over the world.
According to Delta, the sequencing of samples had so far not resulted in any noteworthy new, dangerous changes in Sars-CoV-2.
For a long time it looked as if the variant, which first appeared in India in October 2020, would have the upper hand.
But now the mutation currently known under the abbreviation B.1.1.529 has mainly occurred in South Africa.
Not much is known about them yet.
An overview:
What we know:
B.1.1.529 first appeared in South Africa in November.
The variant is currently spreading very quickly there - especially in Gauteng, the most populous province in which Johannesburg is also located, the number of new infections has recently increased massively.
So far there has been talk of around 100 sequencing of the variant.
B.1.1.529 was also found in Botswana, and they also carried travelers to Hong Kong and Israel.
Many countries have now issued travel restrictions, including Germany.
Israel has now imposed an entry ban on people from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini, which the British government followed.
The variant differs from others in its high number of mutations.
It carries a total of 32 mutations in the important spike protein alone, the part of the virus with which it attaches to and penetrates human host cells.
With eight mutations, the delta variant has significantly fewer changes.
In addition, B.1.1.529 also carries more than ten mutations in other parts of its genome.
Three of the mutations are located near the so-called furin cleft on the sting protein, which is very important for the virus.
That could make B.1.1.529 more contagious.
There is now a sequencing analysis of B.1.1.529 on the Nextstrain genome database that shows the differences.
What we don't know:
Up to which countries, especially on the African continent, B.1.1.529 has already spread everywhere cannot yet be estimated.
The situation is developing very dynamically.
In addition, only a small part of the virus samples are sequenced.
So there should be a large number of unreported cases.
The benefits of travel restrictions have also not been clarified.
Some experts recently suspected that it might already be too late.
How dangerous the new variant is is still unclear.
The sheer number of spike mutations does not necessarily say anything about the danger they pose.
But the experts' forecasts are bleak.
The WHO will be advised on Friday and could then officially classify the variant as a matter of concern, a Variant of Concern (VOC).
According to the previous nomenclature according to the Greek alphabet, it would then be called "Ny".
It is not yet known whether B.1.1.529 is really more contagious than other variants such as Delta.
The consequences for diagnostics and therapies of Covid-19 are also unclear.
It remains to be seen whether the new variant has the potential to displace Delta worldwide and become the predominant variant.
How effective the vaccines will be against the new variant is also still speculative.
But here, too, the prognoses are not good.
According to the biologist James Naismith from Oxford University, the corona vaccines currently available are "almost certainly" less effective.
South Africa has a very low vaccination rate, which limits the value of the data so far - also with regard to the spread of the virus
The origin of B.1.1.529 is also not clear.
Due to its many differences to previously known variants, it could come from a completely different line.
Some experts speculate that it could have come from an animal and from there it jumped back to humans.
People with a weak immune system are also considered breeding grounds in which a virus can change dramatically.
joe