Scientists in South Africa have expressed concern after identified a new Coronavirus variant that could trigger fourth wave around the world. The variant – B.1.1.529 – has rapidly spread in Gauteng, the country’s most populated province of 15 million people. Even though 100 confirmed cases had been detected so far, scientists estimate the new variant could account for 90% of Covid-19 cases in the country.
The new variant has been detected in neighbouring Botswana and as far as Hong Kong, where a 36-year-old man (vaccinated with Pfizer) was tested positive after returning from the continent. While still in quarantine, the man infected another 62-year-old man staying in the same hotel. Because both men were isolated in separate rooms, it’s suspected that the new variant is airborne.
Israel has also confirmed its first confirmed case of B.1.1.529 variant after 3 travellers who returned from Malawi were tested positive. The Israeli government has banned travellers from 7 African countries – South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini. Likewise, Singapore has also blacklisted those African countries, while the U.K. has banned flights from 6 African countries.
Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to the UK Health and Security Agency, has warned that a newly identified Covid-19 variant is the “most worrying we’ve seen”. She said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in Gauteng (home to Johannesburg in South Africa) is now 2, meaning every 10 people with Covid-19 will infect 20 other people.
Belgium, home to the capital of the European Union in Brussels, has confirmed the first case of the new, heavily mutated variant in Europe.. A traveller who has returned from Egypt was tested positive. The Belgium government has slapped new restrictions, including closing bars and full closure of nightclubs for 3 weeks to reduce social contact.
It was so serious that the World Health Organization (WHO) has called a special meeting on Friday (Nov 26) to discuss the new variant. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said – “We don’t know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.”
Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College who first spotted it, described the variant’s combination of mutations as “horrific”. The B.1.1.529 variant, which could eventually be named “Nu”, could be worse than the current “Delta” strain that is creating havoc globally. That’s because the new variant is more capable to evade antibodies than Delta variant, which originated from India.
The variant has a whopping 50 mutations, including 32 mutations in its spike protein – about double that number in Delta variant. South African virologist Tulio de Oliveira revealed that the variant now “dominates all infections” in the country after less than two weeks, meaning it is spreading very quickly. A new variant that could spread twice as efficient as Delta and able to bypass immunity is obviously a recipe for disaster.
It carries mutations K417N and E484A found in Beta variant, in addition to mutation N440K found in Delta as well as S477N in New York variant. Worse, the variant also has mutations P681H and N679K, a very “rarely seen together” combinations. It’s like a super luxury sports car of Coronavirus that has all the bells and whistles, making it more contagious and deadlier.
Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, said B.1.1.529 is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient. With 8.2 million people infected with HIV, the most in the world, South Africa naturally became the perfect place for the Coronavirus virus to mutate, the same way Beta variant mutated.
While computer modelling has hinted that B.1.1.529 variant could dodge immunity, exactly how much it reduces vaccine effectiveness is still under study. The Delta variant is capable of escaping immunity offered by Covid-19 vaccines and can cause mild-to-moderate illness, though the shots are still highly effective against preventing serious disease and death.
Based on new infections recorded so far, B.1.1.529 can break through vaccines such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNtech or Oxford-AstraZeneca. Because it has 32 mutations in its spike protein (the vehicle used by the virus to penetrate the body’s cells), it means the variant has theoretically double the chance or ability (or twice as effective) to infect human cells through these spikes as compared to Delta.
However, the new variant from the Africa continent could be as high as 5 times more contagious than Delta. That’s because the Delta strain’s receptor binding domain (RBI) – where the Covid virus binds and gain entry into host cells – had two mutations. The B.1.1.529, meanwhile, has 10 RBI mutations or five times more than Delta.
Researchers in South Africa are also studying whether the new variant causes disease that is more severe or milder than other variants. But judging by the world stock markets reaction to the new variant, everyone appears to be spooked. The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) plunged 800 points. Even the bullish oil prices tumble 5% and bitcoin drops almost 9% as panic selling begins.
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- Merck Unveils First Covid Pill – Could Cut Risk Of Death & Hospitalization By 50%, But It’s Not A Vaccine And There’s A Catch
- Forget The Third Dose – Get Ready For A 4th Dose Of Covid-19 “Modified” Vaccines As Pandemic Becomes Endemic
- Beware Of Indian “Double Mutant” Covid Variant – Israel Found Indian Strain Even Among People Already Vaccinated
- EU Finally Admits AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Can Cause Blood Clots – And UK Recommends Get Other Vaccines
- Forget UK’s Covid-19 Variant – This South African Coronavirus Variant Is Deadlier And Can Spread Even Faster
- Mistake Or Cheating? – AstraZeneca-Oxford Admits Manufacturing Error In Its Vaccine Effectiveness Results
- Moderna Reveals Covid Vaccine – Here’s How This 94.5% Effective Vaccine Differs From Pfizer’s Vaccine
- Coronavirus – Here’s How China Is Back To Normal While The U.S. And Europe Are Getting From Bad To Worse
- Russia Reveals “Sputnik V” – But Scientists Condemn The Coronavirus Vaccine As Risky, Dangerous & Could Backfire
- 3 Coronavirus Variants Discovered – Surprisingly, “Type-A” Found In Americans, Wuhan’s Type-B And Type-C In Europe
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November 26th, 2021 by financetwitter
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This latest but not last of the Covid line of strains can only be the Alamighty’s swill blessed upon Malaysians for their love of panics for their miserable anxious lives. It’s got to be the yet-another gift bestowed for their marathon of dire fears of just about anything no other humans can think of or kiasu wish for themselves.
At this moment, hardly anything is known about the Omaigod strain, whether it is more dangerous, more contagious, or more anything. Or whether any of the present useless vaccines can suddenly be magical and work against it. Frankly, if anything can half work against the already super-contagious and super-deadly Hindian Modi-fied strains (Hindia offers two) of which Delhi is one, then it’s got to be magic, Hari Hari.
If Omaigod is indeed super-dangerous, then our blessed kiasu about kiasi monkeys had better put all their effort wholeheartedly concentrate on panicking about the impending doom, have their trademark gloom before kicking the bucket they wear on their feet, Malaysian gluttony for kiasi super fear of death has rarely quite work out but Omaigod may be the wan that might do the trick – better than our crap gomen who would get the monkeys killed before any virus would.
Our monkeys love the fear of fear, they relish in living in fear, it is like living in a horror movie – and horror movies are ritual staple for them. You can see on social media our monkeys offering their unwanted views on horror movies like they do on our horror gomen. Secretly, our monkeys want our garbage gomen to fail in everything because they love living in fear the gomen (and our garbage “opposition”) would fcuk up anything through their natural talent, and our monkeys would then thrive on moaning and bitching about the expected failure.
As our luck goes or doesn’t, Omaigod would, as usual, come for us. I would suggest our blessed losers to calm down like you can’t, wait patiently, put your faith in the Alamighty – and our gomen. Her will or the gomen’s great deeds may send you to the afterlife somewhat many years before your number is called.
It is likely new vaccines have to be manufactured or old ones re-worked. Which means new rounds of rushing to queue up to get your possible empty syringes. All while you worry stupid if you are lucky to get jabbed but unlucky the vaccine again do not work or work after three weeks. Not to forget while you worry sick new strains might appear which require new vaccines – which, again, may not work. Don’t forget you can also kick the bucket or get incapacitated by the vaccines.
All these would be food for thought, or, rather, more panics after more panics. Ain’t that brilliant for all you kiasi monkeys permanently in fear of the curse of illness – or death? I’ll bet (even if PAS doesn’t like it), some may even kill themselves from their fear and panic, such is our monkeys fear of the wrath of the Alamighty. Or the curse that is our gomen. Or both. Haven’t I always sayeth unto ye morons of the land if the Alamighty doesn’t finish you off, our gomen would, in any case?
Just because our easily fearful and terrified kiasi monkeys love to obsess over their ready chances of death, the Alamighty has created yet another variety of Covid even before we’ve hardly dealt with the previous ones. That’s probably because our worrying and paranoid kiasi types fear there may be gaps in their fear calendar where they have nothing to fear about. Don’t forget there’s also other killer diseases around like bird flu, Ebola, the flu, etc. We still have dengue, and probably MERS from drinking camel piss, something prescribed in holy writings for scum of our religious.
Well, what more can I say, eh? If we can’t deal with the present flavours of Covid, there’s now the Omaigod, which we will be equally unable to deal with. We can reduce the chance of spread and deaths if the gomen (and phcuking opposition) are not half stupid and properly useless. Or our monkeys doing nothing lying under the coconut trees and leaving it to their deities to do something for them – usually kill them off and sending them to Hell, Amin. If you are “religious” or have a positive view of the Big Woman up the Sky, then good luck to you, do your best to stay home and not clog the hospitals and wanting to live when it is more than likely your deity wants you to fcuk off from earth.
Whether or not Omaigod is going to be the latest potent killer variety pandemic on top of the pandemic, we’ll soon find out. Or maybe you don’t want to know, you already know Omaigod will surely reach our shores, you know how the gomen will deal with it (like not), and this time you really have to go especially because you drink and gamble too.
Some of you may be bored by a Malaysian type of non-life of having to get jabs every few weeks assured that they don’t work most of the time. And you mostly live in sheer fear the gomen can always send you on your way simply because whatever others can easily and definitely do well, our gomen invariably can’t and produce its trademark disasters for fcuking sure, our half-assed ketuanan is nowhere and no way Almighty Ketuanan Cina.
Before I go (I don’t mean die), I wonder if I should say stay positive, you know what I mean? If you don’t, take a PCR test and moan if they tell you it’s negative.
All the same, get rid of your worldly possessions now, with the will of the Alamighty, the incompetence of the gomen, and the unsolicited help from our plentiful bastard monkeys who don’t want to observe the health rules, you will surely get to go before your time, Alhamdulilah! You don’t want to leave anything to nobody that you can’t take with you. Besides, your fcuking relatives can burn
express anything you want this side of Hell. The politicians can still be bribed from here too.
Remember, you fcuking thieve and cheapskates and kiasu types to pay all your bills, move your vehicles from blocking the roads, have a last quarrel with everyone, and return the library books (even if it’s not by due dates). Do your best to take your relatives with you too. Our bastard monkeys always have families and relatives entirely genetically like them – fcuking kiasu and kiasi, and wide between their dumb eyes. All can go together, save on fares, you get plenty of your fcuking free gifts too, just don’t travel MAS or AirAsia.
Yes, I am jolly well enjoying myself immensely writing this too. You can call it laughs in the time of Covid!