All you need to know about new worrying variants of Coronavirus

The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the introduction of a new variant of coronavirus in Ghana.

This variant, according to the CDC is fast spreading in some African countries already since its discovery. It is one of some new mutants of the already existing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus which broke out and spread worldwide in 2019 and 2020.

These new variants have raised concerns and are already causing panic in many of these countries. GhanaWeb puts the spotlight on everything you should know about this new variant in Ghana, as well as other countries in the world, and why everyone needs to protect themselves:

The variants were discovered in countries including Denmark, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Brazil and the Republic of South Africa.

Denmark:

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a SARS-CoV-2 variant linked to infection among farmed mink and subsequently transmitted to humans, was identified in North Jutland, Denmark, in August and September 2020.

The variant, referred to as the “Cluster 5” variant by Danish authorities, has a combination of mutations not previously observed.

Though it does not appear to have spread widely, there is concern that this variant may result in reduced virus neutralization in humans, which could translate to a decrease in the duration of immune protection following natural infection or vaccination.

U.K:

In the United Kingdom, the 501Y/VUI – 202012/01, was first detected in September and has been spreading rapidly around the world. Studies show it is about 40 to 70 percent more transmissible than the original coronavirus strain.

The origin of this variant remains unclear and preliminary analysis show that there is no change in disease severity but it has since been found in The Gambia and Nigeria.

Brazil:

Another variant was discovered in Brazil which is named 501Y.V3.

South Africa:

The South African variant of the SARS-CoV2, was also detected and reported to the WHO in December 2020 and rapidly spread in three provinces of the country.

The variant was named 501YV2. It has since been reported to have been transmitted to some other countries including Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Comoros, Zambia and in 24 non-African nations.

These new variants have raised concerns and interest about the impact of viral changes.

Who is at risk?:

Everybody is at risk.

A statement from Africa CDC indicates that, though it has not been determined the extent to which these new variants are transmissible, they have been described as ‘distinct Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2’ and are significantly more transmissible than the previously circulating variants.

Again, the World Health Organisation says that of these lineages, the variants causing concern currently are the B.1.351 or the 501Y.V2 that was first identified in South Africa.

In South Africa, genomic data highlighted that the new variant rapidly displaced other lineages circulating.

While initial assessment suggests that 202012/01 and 501Y.V2 do not cause changes in clinical presentation or severity, if they result in a higher case incidence, this would lead to an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. More intensive public health measures may be required to control transmission of these variants.

Whilst epidemiologic investigations are underway to understand the increase in cases in these communities among other factors, the WHO is advocating for mass testing, and strict adherence to all the safety protocols including masking up, hand-washing etc.

How viruses mutate:

The WHO indicates that viruses mutate as they duplicate. This requires that the virus’s genetic information is copied. But this copying is not accurate. It produces mistakes such as substitutions, deletions or sometimes insertions of amino acids – the building blocks of proteins. These changes are called mutations.

Some of these mutations are helpful to the virus, allowing it to survive in new hosts or new environments. A new environment can mean evading an immune response mounted by the host or a therapeutic drug. The SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates just like other viruses. To date there have been about 4000 mutations in its spike protein alone.