Whelp, the COVID-19 is like that troublesome kid most of us know.
Every other day, you’ll hear some news about that kid and most times, it’s not good news.
And now, COVID-19 has yet another surprise for the world: Peekaboo! Let me introduce my cousin~
Rest of the world: … Again?!
There’s Reportedly a New Coronavirus Strain That Could be Worse Than Delta
The B1.1529 variant of the coronavirus, coined as Nu, was first discovered in Botswana, Africa, on 11 Nov 2021.
It was first picked up by Imperial College London virologist Dr Tom Peacock who warns that the variant might be “of real concern”.
Three days later, the variant spread to South Africa, then jumped to Hong Kong.
As for how this variant might be worse than the Delta variant, it’s because the strain “escape from most known monoclonal antibodies”.
In layman’s terms, it means the strain might just dodge your body’s defences, leading to fresh outbreaks globally.
It Must Be Monitored Carefully
According to Doctor Peacock, the variant has an “extremely long branch length and incredibly high amount of spike mutations”.
He insisted that the variant should be monitored very carefully due to the horrific spike profile.
Of course, the good doctor isn’t all doom and gloom; he holds some hope that the cluster he discovered could be an “odd cluster” which isn’t very transmissible.
Might Have Evolved From HIV/AIDS Patients
University College London’s Genetics Institute director Professor Francois Balloux stated that the variant seems to have accumulated a large number of mutations “in one burst”.
This makes it highly likely that it might have evolved “during a chronic infection of an immunocompromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient”.
“It is difficult to know what to make of the carriage of both P681H and N679K. It is a combination we see only exceptionally rarely. I suspect it is generally not ‘stable’, but it might be so, in combination with other mutations/deletions.”
The professor said that he expected the variant to be “poorly recognised by neutralising antibodies related to Alpha or Delta”.
Nonetheless, he said, while a close eye should be kept on the variant, there’s no need to get overly concerned unless the frequency starts going up in the near future.
Read Also:
- Johor Police Refute Claims That Robbers Are Waiting to Rob S’poreans Once Land VTL Opens
- 10 Must-Know Facts About the Land VTL Between JB & SG That’s Now Confirmed to Start on 29 Nov
- 10 Facts About the Massive DBS Outage, Which DBS Said is Resolved on 24 Nov, 10:35pm
Feature Image: Andrii Vodolazhskyi / Shutterstock.com
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
Read Also:
- Salon Allegedly Charged $880 Treatment Package to Elderly Who Has Hearing Difficulties
- Man Replaces M’sia-Registered Car With a S’pore Plate & Drives It Without a Driving Licence
- Confirmed: Allianz Withdraws Its Offer to Buy Income Insurance
- 10th Floor Resident Leaves Baby Stroller On Air Conditioner Compressor
- $400 Worth of Durians Delivered to Customer; Customer Allegedly Takes Durians Without Making Payment
- Woman Borrows Touch ‘N Go Card From S’pore Driver to Cross JB Checkpoint & Didn’t Return Card
Advertisements
