The new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 was first discovered in Botswana, Africa.
– B.1.1.529 is indeed a modified version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We still know very little about the new variant and it has so far been proven in very few cases. Nevertheless, it has been detected in various places in South Africa and this may indicate that it is more widespread there than we are aware of now.
This is what senior researcher and section leader Karoline Bragstad in the Section for influenza and other airborne infections at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet.
– The variant has very many mutation changes, and many of these in the important Spike protein. We have found several of the changes in other variants of concern in the past, so this version of the coronavirus is very special.
B.1.1.529 has so far been detected in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong, according to The Guardian. The latter is about an import infection case from South Africa, the newspaper writes.
Unvaccinated Anne (50) had to go to the intensive care unit
Worth watching
But the fact that the virus has so many changes does not necessarily mean that it will have an infectious advantage – that is, that it is more contagious than competing variants, or that the vaccines are less effective against it – according to Bragstad. Maybe quite the opposite.
view more
–
– Sometimes completely unique versions of the virus appear without it becoming more important. But this is definitely one that it is important to follow in the future, she writes.
She points out that in recent times another new variant has also appeared, B.1.640, which also seems to have its origins in Africa.
– Thus, there is probably more than just delta virus out there in the big world, but what significance this will have, it is too early to say anything about. So we are not worried at the moment, but extra on guard.
Sect eruptions shut down town
– 32 mutations
The corona variant was first discovered in Botswana in Africa, and in total only ten cases were discovered on Wednesday in three different countries, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
