WHO Investigating Unverified Reports of South African COVID-19 Variant in S’pore

By
Shawn Ambrose
-

As you’ve probably learnt, the coronavirus enjoys making life difficult for us.

That’s why it was mutating and evolving long before vaccines were produced, in the hopes that it could break through the vaccines’ defences.

Consequently, we have dozens of COVID-19 variants around the world waiting to hop on the nearest plane to other countries where they can infect more people.

And now it seems that one strain has landed in Singapore.

Or at least we think so.

WHO Investigating Unverified Reports of South African COVID-19 Variant in S’pore

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed Singapore as one of the countries where the B.1.351 strain of COVID-19 – also known as the South African variant – has been detected.

However, the organisation said that this has not been verified yet.

Every week, the WHO provides an epidemiological update on the COVID-19 global situation, including where the B.1.351 strain has been detected.

In this week’s update, Singapore was included in the list.

Image: WHO

However, WHO said this was “not verified”, meaning it “has learnt from unofficial sources that the variant has been detected, but this detection has not yet been officially verified”.

“We are investigating further why this report has not yet been verified, and will adjust as necessary in the next available Weekly Epi Update,” it told Yahoo News Singapore.

More About the South Africa COVID-19 Strain

According to the Wall Street Journal, the B.1.351 strain has been found in at least 60 countries, including the U.S.

Viruses, just like the influenza, mutate all the time, and rarely affects how they behave.

But this new strain has worried scientists for two main reason:

  1. It seems to be more infectious
  2. It may make some COVID-19 vaccines less effective

According to Japanese researchers, the B.1.351 variant may be around 50% more contagious.

And unlike most variants, the B.1.351 strain has an inordinate number of mutations, particularly in the spike protein.

This is what the virus uses to infiltrate and infect human cells. Because of this, the spike protein is also the part of the virus targeted by COVID-19 vaccines.

As a result, some vaccines could be less effective against this strain.

To know more about COVID-19 vaccines, you might want to watch this video to the end:

Other Strains in Singapore

The only other known COVID-19 variant that has been detected in Singapore is the B.1.1.7 strain, or the UK variant.

Singapore confirmed its first case of the new strain last December.

The patient was a 17-year-old female who had been studying in the UK since August 2020.

A few more have tested positive for the mutated virus since then, but the health ministry said at the time that there’s “no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community”.

Featured Image: Andrii Vodolazhskyi / Shutterstock.com

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]