TORONTO -- A scientist in the United Kingdom is taking note of a COVID-19 variant originating from Botswana with an astonishing number of mutations, though there have only been 82 confirmed cases to date.
The B.1.1.529 variant was first discovered in the southern African country and has since been discovered in South Africa and in a traveller in Hong Kong who had been to South Africa. , South African officials reported 82 cases of the variant, 77 of which are in South Africa.
Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, said earlier this week that its potential is worth noting due to its 32 spike mutations, even though there had only been 10 confirmed cases at the time.
鈥淓xport to Asia implies this might be more widespread than sequences alone would imply,鈥 Peacock wrote on a 鈥淎lso the extremely long branch length and incredibly high amount of spike mutations suggest this could be of real concern.鈥
Mutations in the spike protein, or spike mutations, can change the way a virus infects cells and spreads. These mutations can also make it harder to for the body鈥檚 immune system to attack it.
The World Health Organization which is below the agency鈥檚 classification of 鈥渧ariants of interest鈥 and 鈥渧ariants of concern.鈥
On Thursday, the United Kingdom announced it would be banning flights from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini as a precaution. Travellers returning from these countries would have to quarantine.
Dr. Peter Juni, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto and a member of Ontario鈥檚 COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told 愛污传媒 Channel on Thursday that these sorts of cases are why border restrictions are important.
鈥淭his combination of two doses of a vaccine plus one negative test -- it can also be a rapid test -- that鈥檚 just a good safeguard against importing these sorts of variants too early into the province,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t happened before with Alpha, it happened with Delta, we don鈥檛 want it once more.鈥
In a , Peacock called the spike mutation profile 鈥渁wful,鈥 but emphasized the low case numbers make it only something to keep an eye on for now.
鈥淲orth emphasising this is at super low numbers right now in a region of Africa that is fairly well sampled, however it very, very much should be monitored due to that horrific spike profile,鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 possible this is just an odd cluster that isn鈥檛 very transmissible. I hope that鈥檚 the case,鈥
Francois Balloux, professor of Computational Systems Biology and director of University College London鈥檚 Genetics Institute that B.1.1.529 has an 鈥渦nusual constellation of mutations鈥 and likely evolved during a prolonged infection of an immunocompromised person.
鈥淚 would definitely expect it to be poorly recognised by neutralising antibodies relative to Alpha or Delta,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淚t is difficult to predict how transmissible it may be at this stage.鈥
Balloux said that the variant is not one to be overly concerned with, unless 鈥渋t starts going up in frequency in the near future.鈥
For Juni, this new variant is something to keep an eye on, but not one to make an drastic adjustments just yet.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to monitor it, but we shouldn鈥檛 be overly concerned right now,鈥 he said.
鈥淟et鈥檚 remember (the virus is) about indeed invading the immune system 鈥 that鈥檚 one aspect 鈥 but it鈥檚 also about how well it transmits to other people and how well it can propagate. So when you just take all of that into account, we will see what happens.鈥
With files from Reuters
