What you need to know about the new variants of the coronavirus | News on the coronavirus pandemic

Around the same time that the first COVID-19 vaccines were approved and procured in December 2020, health officials in the UK announced the discovery of a new strain of the virus.

Initial reports based on limited preliminary evidence suggested it may be more contagious. A few days later, the discovery of another variant of the coronavirus was announced in South Africa, which at the time recorded more than 15,000 cases of COVID-19 infections per day, the highest number in Africa .

And in January, another variant was detected in Brazil, originating in the northern state of Amazonas.

According to Dr Deepti Gurdasani, clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University in London, a variant called D641G developed in February-March last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the place where the first known case of COVID -19 was confirmed in December 2019.

“This variant was associated with an increase of about 20-30% in transmissibility which quickly became the dominant variant in the world,” Gurdasani told Al Jazeera.

“This highlights the adaptive potential of this virus.”

But let’s start from the beginning.

What is a variant?

Variants are mutations of a virus. All viruses mutate when they copy each other to spread and thrive. Most mutations are insignificant, some can actually harm the virus and others can produce a variant that will make it more transmissible.

To break it down further, a mutation is a change in the genetic material of the virus – or what’s called ribonucleic acid (RNA).

A virus spreads inside the body by attaching itself to a cell and then entering it. They then make copies of their RNA, which helps them proliferate. If there is a copy error, the RNA is changed and this is what scientists call a mutation.

Brooke Nichols, an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, said mutations occur much more frequently with RNA viruses because RNA “does not have a ‘proofreading’ ability and, as a such, cannot correct errors made during viral replication ”.

“This can then become problematic when the virus then selects for mutations that allow the virus to replicate more efficiently,” Nichols told Al Jazeera.

“For example, if a person has already been infected, the virus may select for mutations that may escape that previous immunity, or select for mutations that allow the virus to be more transmissible.”

How do variants affect humans?

The coronavirus disease has undergone several mutations since the start of the pandemic.

All three variants detected in the UK, South Africa and Brazil underwent changes in their spike protein. It is the part of the virus that attaches to human cells and makes it more efficient at infecting cells and spreading.

Although scientists agree that the mutations found in all three variants make the coronavirus more infectious, there is no evidence that these actually worsen the disease or are more likely to cause death.

“The variants don’t seem to make coronavirus disease any more deadly,” Nichols said. “The variants, however, make the virus more transmissible. This could mean that more people can become infected more quickly and thus further burden health systems.

B.1.1.7

On December 14, British health officials reported a new variant to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The variant, called B117, was first detected in September in Kent, in the south-east of England. As of December, the strain accounted for 60% of new COVID-19 cases in the UK, becoming the most common version of the coronavirus in the country.

While preliminary evidence suggests the variant may be up to 30% more deadly than the previous dominant strain, experts say the data is limited and there is still not much information to determine at which point it is infectious.

It was originally reported that the variant could be up to 70% more transmissible, but the latest research from Public Health England puts it at between 30 and 50%.

Early research seems to show that vaccines are effective against this variant. Last week, the Novavax and Johnson & Johnson trials showed that they were 86% and 66% effective, respectively.

In late January, scientists said trials showed the Moderna vaccine appeared to work against the variant.

The British strain has been detected in more than 50 other countries, including China, India and the United States

Recently, experts said that the variant has a mutation present in the South African variant – E484K, which is said to help the virus escape parts of the immune system and antibodies.

B1351

Medical staff attend to COVID-19 patient in special ward at Arwyp Medical Center as South Africa hits one million infections milestone [File: Shafiek Tassiem/Reuters]

Days after the new variant was announced in the UK, South African authorities said on December 18 that a new variant was rapidly spreading to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

The B1351 variant first appeared in the country in October and has since become the dominant strain of coronavirus in South Africa.

The variant has also been found in 32 other countries, including the United Kingdom.

Research has shown that the variant also has the E484K mutation, as well as the N501Y mutation – which appears to make it more transmissible.

Recent trials have shown that some vaccines are less effective against this variant than others.

The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford appears to offer only limited protection, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said.

Novavax said preliminary data from clinical trials showed its vaccine to be 60% effective. Johnson & Johnson said clinical trials in South Africa have shown its vaccine to be 57% effective in stopping moderate to severe cases of COVID-19. These two vaccines have not yet been approved by regulators.

On January 25, Moderna, whose vaccine is being rolled out worldwide, said it was developing a booster vaccine after finding its vaccine was less effective against the South African variant. He is currently testing whether a third booster injection might be beneficial.

B11248

The variant of the coronavirus detected in Japan originating in the Brazilian state of Amazonas is already dominant in its capital Manaus, reinforcing initial suspicions that it could be more contagious [Marcio James/AFP]

In mid-January, a separate new variant was discovered in passengers arriving in Japan from Brazil.

The origins of the B11248 variant can be traced back to Amazonas state in northern Brazil, where it was first detected in its capital, Manaus, in December.

It also has the E484K mutation.

“What we do know, it has independent mutations and shared with the British and South African variant,” said Dr Deepti Gurdasani.

This particular variant is of concern “because it has been associated in the laboratory with significantly reduced neutralization from antibodies directed against previous variants,” she continued.

In the first wave of the virus in Brazil last year, 76% of Manaus residents were exposed to it.

“But we are still seeing huge waves of infections and it is very difficult at this point to know why,” Gurdasani said. “It could be because we are dealing with a new variant, therefore more transmissible, which increases the threshold of immunity of the herd. But it may also be that this variant escapes at least for some people the immune response to the previous variant.

The variant was present in 51% of samples taken from coronavirus patients in December, he said. By mid-January, it was appearing in 91% of samples.

Scientists don’t understand why the variant has spread so explosively in Brazil and why it carries a particularly dangerous set of mutations.

Will the vaccines work on the new strains?

Mutations help the virus avoid antibodies or escape recognition.

However, vaccines cause the immune system to attack several different parts of the virus. In other words, the antibodies in vaccines target many parts of the spike protein, so even if part of the spike has mutated, the vaccines should still offer some degree of protection.

On January 27, Pfizer said its vaccine was slightly less effective against the British and South African variants.

Even in the worst-case scenario, vaccines that use mRNA technology, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, can be redesigned and modified to be better suited within weeks or months, if necessary, according to medical experts. .