The new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in South Africa, and one case has been found in Hong Kong

On November 25th local time, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of South Africa issued a statement saying that researchers in the country have now detected a new variant of the new coronavirus, B.1.1.529, in South Africa, and that this new variant may be spreading rapidly in South Africa.

The website of the British magazine Nature pointed out in a report on the 25th that studies have shown that the new variant contains a large number of mutations that appear in other variants (including Delta), which may reduce the effectiveness of antibodies, but its impact on the effectiveness of the vaccine and whether it will cause severe illness are still unknown.

Medical staff are working at an infectious disease hospital in South Africa. Image source: British Nature magazine website

New variant of coronavirus discovered in South Africa

South African researchers first discovered the variant in Botswana this month. Nature magazine reported that the variant has been detected in tourists traveling from South Africa to Hong Kong.

Richard Lesser, an infectious disease physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, pointed out that the number of cases of infection with the variant in Gauteng Province (whose capital is Johannesburg) has surged, especially in schools and among young people, which has sounded the alarm for the country.

Tulio de Oliveira, a bioinformatician at the school, said that after genetic sequencing and other genetic analysis of samples collected in Gauteng between November 12 and 20, they found that 77 of the samples were infected with the B.1.1.529 variant, and they are currently analyzing hundreds of samples.

Nature magazine reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) expert group will hold a meeting on November 26 local time and classify the B.1.1.529 variant as "variant of concern" (VOI) or "variant of concern" (VOC). "Variants of concern" refers to mutant viruses that can cause community transmission, transmission clusters, or are found in multiple countries. Once the mutant strain has increased transmissibility and virulence, or reduces the effectiveness of existing tests, treatments, and vaccines, it will be classified as a "variant of concern", such as "Delta".

De Oliveira said at the NICD briefing that the variant might be named "Nu" - previously, scientists had named the new coronavirus variant B.1.621 (a "variant of concern") "Mu", and in the Greek alphabet, "Mu" is followed by "Nu".

Contains multiple variants

South African researchers pointed out that the B.1.1.529 variant is eye-catching because they have found 30 mutations on its spike protein. Previous studies have shown that the new coronavirus mainly infects by binding its surface spike protein to the "angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)" receptor on human cells. The spike protein is the protein that the new coronavirus uses to identify host cells and is also the main target of the human immune system. Moreover, many of the mutations they found on B.1.1.529 appeared in the delta and alpha variants and were associated with increased infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

Lesser said the new variant contains a spike protein mutation that can be detected through genotyping tests, which produce results faster than genome sequencing. Preliminary evidence provided by genotyping tests suggests that the spread of B.1.1.529 is not limited to Gauteng. He said: "This makes us concerned that this variant may have spread widely in South Africa."

The impact on vaccine effectiveness is unknown

Scientists are currently studying the variant's characteristics, such as whether it can evade the immune response triggered by vaccines and whether it causes more severe symptoms than other variants.

For example, a team led by virologist Penny Moore of the University of Johannesburg is testing the new variant's potential to evade vaccines and immunity acquired from previous infections. They plan to test the virus's ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies as well as other immune responses. Moore said the variant has a large number of mutations in the region of the spike protein that antibodies recognize, which could reduce the effectiveness of the antibodies. Even computer models show that B.1.1.529 can evade attacks by the immune system's T cells. Her team hopes to have the first results "out" within two weeks.

“The tricky thing is to figure out whether it makes the vaccine less effective because there are so many variants,” said Ares Katzoulakis, an expert on viral evolution at the University of Oxford in the UK.

South African researchers are also monitoring the new variant's potential to spread globally, such as whether it will trigger a new wave of infections or exacerbate the current outbreak caused by the Delta variant. They said that so far, the threat posed by B.1.1.529 to areas outside South Africa is still unclear. However, countries where the Delta variant is rampant should pay attention to this new variant.

"We need to study whether the new variant causes more severe disease than other coronavirus variants, or even increases the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic," Lesser said. "Right now, we don't know much about this new variant, and although it worries us, now we need to do some work to understand its characteristics and what it means for the COVID-19 pandemic."

◎ Liu Xia, Science and Technology Daily reporter

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Editor: Wang Yu

Review: Yue Liang

Final review: Liu Haiying