New COVID Variant B.1.1.529, Which May Evade Immunity, Found in These Countries

Scientists have voiced concern about a new COVID variant that has a "really awful" combination of mutations that could possibly cause the virus to evade immunity.

The variant, now called B.1.1.529, was reported on just days ago after a small cluster of cases were spotted by Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London in the U.K.

As of Wednesday this week, the variant had been detected in Botswana, South Africa, and Hong Kong, and there were only 10 cases reported, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Sequencing data does not yet appear to be listed on variant tracking platforms like GISAID or Outbreak.info.

In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Peacock said the variant had a number of notable mutations such as K417N, S477N and E484A among several others associated with the virus' spike protein. The virus uses this protein to enter human cells.

https://www.newsweek.com/b-1-1-529-...immunity-countries-cases-south-africa-1653257


Despite the low number of cases, B.1.1.529 has some experts worried due to the mutations it has.

 

WHO is calling an emergency meeting tomorrow to address the new strain.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/25/who...th-africa-with-large-number-of-mutations.html

Portugal is reimposing Covid-19 restrictions and the UK is banning flights.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/25/uk-...tries-as-new-covid-variant-raises-alarms.html

Portugal is extremely worried because serious symptoms are being observed among the fully vaccinated. Same in the UK. Markets already catching wind and have begun to tank with oil prices.

This is Emergency.

 

This was always going to happen.

I've been saying this since March 2020. Viruses were always going to be our kryptonite, and we've entered the age of the Virus.

Those who think COVID is an aberation are painfully mistaken.

 

But yes, this one is going to be a very big problem.

 

What comes of infants playing with loaded guns... no lab is 100% "safe and secure"... eh, Wuhan Institute of Virology? Just maybe the scenario of Stephen King's now prophetic "The Stand" is playing out in slow motion... had to happen some day.

 

Last year the same thing was being said about a different South African variant which never came to materialize

Concerns now seem just to go on cases and transmission. We need to see what the death rate of this new variant is along with what other long term effects to the body are before worrying if this is s serious variant. The future lies on a variant that becomes dominant but no more serious than normal seasonal flu; this variant might turn out to be the variant we have been hoping for

 

Does anyone with knowledge of evolutionary theory and viruses think Covid is consistent with a natural evolution of a virus?

I think it's possible that Fauci and some world governments might know more about what this virus is going to do.

I've never said that Covid is simply an aberration. Right now, it is not too dangerous to many people. But I do not rule out that it could mutate into a civilization ender. Which is why the media, politicians not in the know, professors, scientists, and all citizens should demand a full accounting of what was created in Wuhan.

Perhaps a wider perspective of the truth now, will be the catalyst and guide to our young children eventually developing the right mindset and knowledge to solve this crisis.

 

I wondered how long it would be before a new, dreadful variant would emerge from some third-world shithole, and now we've got one -- and the lightning-quick Biden Admn. is already on top of the situation by banning all travel to the U. S. from those areas -- right? WRONG!

No "biggie" -- they were two months late in imposing any additional measures involving the Delta variant last spring... but the woke-morons still blame Trump for everything....

 

It won't work. The travel bans would have to be strictly enforced. We would have to cease all business with affected countries. That means no cargo can be loaded onto a ship from there. Hunter Biden and other "businesspeople" couldn't fly there, or vice versa, for high level meetings. The government won't stop the elites from traveling, or making money. So it won't work.

 

The travel bans won't work. If it's in Botswana, it will travel overland to at least Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. No government in Africa has the resources necessary in order to be authoritarian enough to effectively seal their borders (when dealing with a variant as transmissible, or higher, than Delta). So eventually we would have to cease business with all of Africa. Most likely it gets through the aforementioned countries, and Eastern Europe gets infected. More travel bans...

It's just not feasible.

 

This is why mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and lockdowns are stupid.
We should just learn to live with it, just like we did with flu and numerous other viruses.

 

Maybe the lockdowns need to be stricter, and localized. I think mayors can do it, IF the damage from the outbreak is clearly going to outweigh the damage from the lockdown. In an emergency, the government can infringe on rights. But the violation must be temporary, and government officials need to recognize that, and state a clear end point to the lockdown, after which, if it isn't clear if it's working, it is lifted.

 

Agree or disagree? “It is everyone’s responsibility to protect themselves and others.”

 

We could just try "to live with it" except that the impact of all the virus-infected people on medical services, including on hospitals, is completely disruptive. As it is, we see more cases that people who need non-virus-related surgeries can't get scheduled into operating rooms and hospital beds because of the COVID situation.

Doctors have a real dilemma now -- what do you do for a guy who needs any one of dozens of different kinds of non-virus-oriented surgery, but there's no place even to DO it, or, the surgery can only be scheduled MONTHS in advance?

And now we've got a variant going around that the 'experts' fear can evade vaccinations...? Oh, but we dare not cut off all travel to and from the pestholes these variants come from?! Believe it or not, the 'woke'-morons are screaming that we dare not cut off travel to and from third-world shitholes (primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and the vast slums of urban South America) because it would amount to "Vaccination Apartheid"!

 

I think doctors should allow some covid patients to die. I know this sounds cruel, but doctors make these decisions on daily basis with regard to other diseases.
This virus is very dangerous only to a small part of the general population, and people who are the main engine of the global economy (young and healthy) should not have government interfering with their daily lives over something that does not affect them, because if you stop them and make them lazy, the economic decline will affect the hospitals as much as overcrowding them with the covid patients because hospitals still need the toilet paper, cotton, towels, disposables, bed sheets, minor equipment, etc. and they cannot operate without that stuff.
The supply chain collapse was not caused by covid - it is caused by our collective reaction to covid, and it takes a toll on hospitals, just like on everything else.
Our collective response to covid seem to produce very limited result, yet royally screws up everything else, which ultimately impacts our ability to properly respond to covid. Maybe we should do something that humans did 10,000 years ago (that’s not exact, but besides the point) when first flu epidemic emerged - nothing and just keep living. We have legitimate treatment in the form of monoclonal antibodies, so maybe we should just allow the nature to take its course. Some will die, but our civilization will emerge stronger after everything is said and done.

 

It depends on what you think that "responsibility" entails. I view the masks like water "resistant" materials: they might reduce water penetration by a certain %, but if you stay in the rain long enough, it will not prevent you from getting wet.

 

Question; What have you done/will keep doing to protect yourself and others?

 

How about this answer - nothing!

 

I don't believe there is anything I am capable of doing to prevent the spread of this virus. And after 2 years, I have come to resent that certain people think they are doing more.

 

Only because government makes it a problem.

I'm guessing people don't remember in Australia when a mouse infected with small pox escaped and they went on mouse-hunt to find it.

The problem is many scientists are arrogant and think they know better and know what's best for everyone. They'll be the death of us yet.

When I first heard about it, I read research papers written by coronavirologists.

These are virologists who have studied corona virus their entire professional career to the exclusion of all other virus.

Note that Germany's Christian Horsten -- a coronavirologist -- got the genome sequence from China on Friday, January 10th and by Monday, January 12th, had come up with an effective test which made its first detected case on January 27th.

Meanwhile, the you-Harvard A-Team of Ass-Clowns who did not have a coronavirologist among them fumbled about for 2 months and still couldn't tell the difference between their heads and their asses.

I searched yesterday for about an hour and couldn't find any US network news or newspaper that interviewed a US coronavirologist during this entire period of the pandemic.

Anyway, what coronavirologists were saying is that corona virus mutate on average about every 2 years.

As an example, HCOV-NL (the Netherlands) quickly mutated into HCOV-NL63 which then quickly mutated into HCOV-NH (for New Haven, Connecticut) where there was an epidemic in Connecticut around 2003 or so.

The corona virus that causes viral bronchitis and gives many people the gift of adult bronchial asthma for the rest of their lives has mutated at a slower rate, but the two corona virus that cause the common cold (a rhinovirus and its variants are also responsible for the majority of common colds) have mutated frequently.

Maybe there shouldn't be any lock-downs.

Maybe government should just let people live their lives instead of ruining everyone's life. You can't please all the people all the time and you don't screw the vast majority to cater to a small minority.

The government should just tell the truth, which is that Spanish Flu was 3x more deadly, but STUPID-19 is deadlier than ordinary flu and watch this cool video by the Kevorkian girls or whoever the hell they are to show you how to properly don and remove a mask and sanitize your hands so you don't infect yourself and others and let everyone else do their thing, especially since the vast overwhelming majority of people are asymptomatic.

 

That is totally unnecessary. If you all would elect real leaders, your governors would better manage their hospital bed space so that there's no problems, but very obviously none of the governors and no one on their staffs or in the cabinets have a freaking clue what a spreadsheet is or know how to use a phone, text, email, or fax.

 

We prefer our governors to concentrate on preserving our rights and freedoms instead of micromanaging hospitals. Vaccines are widely available. Legitimate treatment in form of antibodies is widely available as well. No need to force people to do anything they don’t want. Their logic seems pretty sound -> you get sick -> you get treatment-> get on with your life, just like with numerous other diseases.

 

It’s not too surprising that a new deadly strain is found in countries that have the least access to the vaccine. I don’t know for sure if it plays a role but it stands to reason that the more people who catch it the more it will mutate.

 

COVID round 2 on the way and it still doesn’t matter if you’re vaccinated or not. It also is just in time for 2022 voting to be conducted by mail….. again….

Yup, there’s my conspiracy theory

 

Yes, that's odd. Even Europe was on to it immediately.