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South Africa detects new COVID variant with many mutations

63 Comments
By Susan NJANJI

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More evidence, if any was needed, to get the world vaccinated to stop the variants developing.

8 ( +33 / -25 )

I suspect we will only learn this the hard way

7 ( +19 / -12 )

But if the vaccines are only partially successful surely this is a fallacy as they don't stop transmission anyway!

-17 ( +21 / -38 )

More evidence, if any was needed, to get the world vaccinated to stop the variants developing.

I just got a booster a few days ago. However, a variant with a high number of mutations may not be covered by any of the current vaccines. We’ll have to wait and see.

3 ( +18 / -15 )

What we need is for the pharmacy companies to stop hoarding the formula's and allow the nations to produce the vaccines faster instead of still trying to make more profits. They have already earn enough. Instead now we are just waiting for increased prices and also waiting for new shipment. Now who is taking advantage of all of this? One of the reason that delay of vaccination around the world happen is because of short supply. This is why after 2 years we are still stuck with this nonsense.

-6 ( +12 / -18 )

There is no evidence that the new variant is as pathogenic as past variants either. If it has mutated to a version that is just like a common cold then it should be allowed to roam free!

-1 ( +19 / -20 )

new COVID variant with many mutations

Yet the pandemic deniers, flat-earthers and ilk, persist in claiming Corona is no big deal, some of the thickest even saying that it's just a plot to take their freedoms away, even though millions continue to die and get sickened (which apparently is OK with them because it's not their families and friends who've been affected, instead it's mainly 'others, which seems to mean people not from their caste') while they continue claiming Corona has not been as bad as the Bubonic plague, therefore in their minds it's not a serious problem).

-2 ( +19 / -21 )

If they know about it, how can they still dare to export it to Hongkong instead of containing it and at least closing own border against own leaving virus ’tourists’? Unbelievable.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

The UK has just put South Africa and five other African countries on the Red list for travel.

19 ( +24 / -5 )

So how many people are dying of this new ‘variant’

More fear and panic to come, as usual…

3 ( +19 / -16 )

Sanjinosebleed

But if the vaccines are only partially successful surely this is a fallacy as they don't stop transmission anyway!

They do reduce transmission, so it isn't a fallacy.

Simian Lane

Why is the position by every nation to cower to the virus..why not just face it and stopped being so fearful. It’s cowardly, That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks, etc etc

Probably because most leaders believe in protecting their people from unnecessary death.

7 ( +20 / -13 )

The virus should have just been allowed to spread right at the start, then you wouldn’t have as many of these mutations, and mindnumbingly boring headlines about individual countries two years later.

There are 9 billion people on the planet. Let’s say that we let the virus run wild and spread until 70% of the planet is infected (the absolute minimum for herd immunity) and then conservatively estimate a mortality rate of 2% (it would much likely be much higher with the collapse of Heath systems). That would mean 126,00,000 deaths.

Talk about thick as 2 planks.

And this doesn’t even consider the economic costs or human suffering, nor does it consider that 50% of symptomatic cases have long haul syndrome.

No, the solution to this pandemic is rapid vaccination, proof of vaccination, limits on travel and attendance at mass gatherings of the unvaccinated and masks.

These are the facts and they are not in doubt.

-6 ( +14 / -20 )

The variant, which goes by the scientific lineage number B.1.1.529, "has a very high number of mutations," he said, expressing hope that the World Health Organization will give it a Greek name on Friday.

Yes, lets hope so, cause that's the most important thing right now

3 ( +9 / -6 )

There is no evidence that the new variant is as pathogenic as past variants either. If it has mutated to a version that is just like a common cold then it should be allowed to roam free!

There is even less evidence for this scenario, and it is still an ureasonable suggestion, because nothing stops a variant that have higher spreading potential to further change and become a variant with increased spreading and pathogenicity. There is a reason why no actual expert on the matter has made this suggestion.

More fear and panic to come, as usual…

But only from people that fear and panic over science proving their personal beliefs as wrong, for the rest of the people knowledge allows for preparation and decision making, thus no need to fear new information as the antiscience groups do by default.

If they know about it, how can they still dare to export it to Hongkong instead of containing it and at least closing own border against own leaving virus ’tourists’? Unbelievable.

Hint, finding out a variant for the first time do not mean it has not already been exported elsewhere.

-5 ( +14 / -19 )

Simian Lane...

Why is the position by every nation to cower to the virus..why not just face it and stopped being so fearful. It’s cowardly, That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks, etc etc

Because it kills the old and weak. You could make the argument that letting this happen would greatly reduce health and pension costs in the long run but most people have some old folk they want to see live a little longer.

3 ( +12 / -9 )

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.12.21265796v1

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

-5 ( +11 / -16 )

arghhhh...another fear-mongering story about covid. i will be a bridge in brooklyn that another delta-style variant won't occur for another 4-5 years, if ever at all.

-3 ( +13 / -16 )

Why is the position by every nation to cower to the virus..why not just face it and stopped being so fearful. It’s cowardly, That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks, etc etc

The developed and comfortable society of the 21st century is not ready anymore to accept the fate that occurred in the past centuries.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

“Vaccinated people dying from COVID does not mean that the vaccine doesn’t work.”

why do I feel we will start hearing this again?

-7 ( +11 / -18 )

why do I feel we will start hearing this again?

Mostly because antivaxxers will still try to use this as if it were some kind of argument. Similar to "people wearing seat belts still dying does not mean it doesn't work", or surgeries, or antibiotics, or whatever else can be efficiently used to reduce risk of complications, hospitalizations or deaths. Irrational people will always try to use the "argument" that if something is not 100% effective then it must be useless.

arghhhh...another fear-mongering story about covid. i will be a bridge in brooklyn that another delta-style variant won't occur for another 4-5 years, if ever at all.

Present then your validated data that allows for this conclusion to be made, just guessing is obviously not enough to demonstrate that information the experts consider important is just "fear-mongering".

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

Who says that? the actual argument is that vaccination reduces importantly transmission, which your source does nothing to disprove. Since vaccination reduces the risk of infection, and the rates of presenting symptoms for those that get infected, just saying that equivalent viral titers can be found between the those symptomatic enough to be tested in both groups still means vaccination reduces transmission (being vaccinated reduces the chances of being included in the group where the virus loads are measured).

-5 ( +12 / -17 )

-2.95 million cases, of which 89,657 have been fatal.

3% mortality is relatively low given the issues with poverty, vax rate (relative to EU/JP) and pre-existing conditions in SA.

The HK incidence is surprising as it is one of the most locked down places of all. Beijing will not be happy if it skips into the mainland.

Simian Lane has a point, but with caveats. There is a problem with lockdowns. They delay the spread of the virus. The longer it takes to run through a population, the more chance of variants there are. But we needed lockdowns before the vaccines were available. As soon as we have acceptable levels of vax cover, we need to let it rip through available hosts. Medically, giving vaccinated people Covid when they are at peak antibody levels would be the most effective option, but I doubt any regime would attempt it.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

As soon as we have acceptable levels of vax cover, we need to let it rip through available hosts. Medically, giving vaccinated people Covid when they are at peak antibody levels would be the most effective option, but I doubt any regime would attempt it.

that's what govts are doing when they lift restrictions when they reach what they deem acceptable vax levels

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

Only the dumb and stupid will say vaccinations stop transmission.

Good luck with that strawman

2 ( +11 / -9 )

Why is the position by every nation to cower to the virus..why not just face it and stopped being so fearful. It’s cowardly, That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks, etc etc

Did you have your whole family face it too?

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Scientific latin name's or latin binomials are Not Greek.

And romanji is not English either by the way.

Another variant of covid 19 just in time for Christmas.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

"ianToday  10:11 am JST

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

Only the dumb and stupid will say vaccinations stop transmission.

Good luck with that strawman"

Funny I thought you were one of those...

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

Vaccinated people dying from COVID does not mean that the vaccine doesn’t work.”

why do I feel we will start hearing this again?

Because it’s a simple truth that needs repeating again and again until you can understand it.

not even considering that there are more COVID-19 deaths this year with a vaccine available than there were last year with no vaccine at all?

Again. You really need to go back to basics and look at how viruses and vaccines work. There is no magic wand, never has been.

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

There is no evidence that the new variant is as pathogenic as past variants either. If it has mutated to a version that is just like a common cold then it should be allowed to roam free!

Yeah, strange that there is no mention of it's lethality compared to previous variants. I suspect it's probably just an escape mutant resulting from mass vaccination during the pandemic. The cases are still about 30X lower than they were a few months ago.

I saw a great presentation by someone studying the structure of the spike protein in the different variants. He believes variants worst that delta, in terms of spreading, are unlikely.

It's in French, so you might need subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBm1BKL4zlg&t=1166s

-8 ( +7 / -15 )

That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks,

expect when you or your family member are in hospital on a ventilator, and 100s thousands of others, making no beds available to patients that need emergency surgery, eg heart cancer car accidents.

My mother in law had this exact problem in July last year, had a liver problem for about 3 yrs, being treated by drugs, had surgery scheduled for May but all surgeries were canceled because of covid.

It wasnt until July that the problem became so bad she had to be rushed to hospital for emergency surgery

to be treated for a problem that could have been fixed May. She came close to dying all because covid patients were taking up all the hospital beds.

Now to the dummies that think herd immunity is the way to go, multiply the covid infection by a multiple of 10 . that would mean 100s thousands of Japanese in hospitals, hotel, tent hospitals, and 100s thousand more deaths.

Or the actual scientific approach, taking the safe effective vaccine saving millions of lives and stopping more variants

10 ( +18 / -8 )

I just got a booster a few days ago. However, a variant with a high number of mutations may not be covered by any of the current vaccines. We’ll have to wait and see.

Indeed, aren't the vaccines and boosters based on the original Wuhan strain?

I guess they're becoming more and more irrelevant as time goes by.

Having said that, if someone (in Japan) wants to get vaccinated and if there is no plan of updating the mRNA sequence, then now might be a good time as the cases are extremely low (to avoid escape mutants).

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

Only the dumb and stupid will say vaccinations stop transmission.

only the dumb believers of pseudoscience would think being unvaccinated would decrease your chances of hospitalisation, long term health effects and death, compare to the vaccinated.

Now back to reality of real world science, supported by actual evidence and facts.

3 ( +14 / -11 )

Funny I thought you were one of those...

Lol

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

Only the dumb and stupid will say vaccinations stop transmission.

Good luck with that strawman"

Funny I thought you were one of those...

I never saw anyone say it here, so what I'm actually saying was anyone making that strawman is dumb and stupid =)

1 ( +6 / -5 )

not even considering that there are more COVID-19 deaths this year with a vaccine available than there were last year with no vaccine at all?

well when you have a large percentage of populations that arent vaccinated or refuse to be vaccinated what do you expect. Herd immunity by vaccination starts at around 80%

Ever wonder why the vast majority of hospitalization deaths and infections are from states with low vaccinate rates, give you one guess what political affiliation these states are.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109004/coronavirus-covid19-cases-rate-us-americans-by-state/

meanwhile back in Japan where all political parties are supporting strong covid prevention measures, high percentage of mask wearing , vaccinated. Just compare Japan with the US on which country is doing far better

during this pandemic.

untivaxxers think theyre the smart ones LOL

-2 ( +11 / -13 )

Why is the position by every nation to cower to the virus..why not just face it and stopped being so fearful. It’s cowardly, That’s what I did from the beginning. Stand up and face it, take your own risks, etc

We have cowardly leaders running the countries of the world. This kamikaze leadership has proven to be a failure time and time again. History always repeats itself.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

It’s interesting that this thread has become a debate over vaccination. The fact is, if you are fully vaccinated you are less likely to end up in the ICU or dead. I’m surprised so many people have refused to get vaccinated purely because they don’t like being told what to do. I guess it will come down to Darwinism. The vaccinated will survive this pandemic and life will go on. Those who are vaccinated well…..

-6 ( +7 / -13 )

Raw Beer : And how do you and your friends intend to deal with the long hospital waiting lists for other illnesses and the fact that people are dying unnecessarily because unvaccinated people are taking up valuable hospital beds. Do you deny that this is happening?

-6 ( +7 / -13 )

Yeah, strange that there is no mention of it's lethality compared to previous variants.

If you look at the numbers reported in the article there should not be anything strange about it, it is completely natural that 22 cases are not enough to calculate rates of lethality with any degree of confidence.

 I suspect it's probably just an escape mutant resulting from mass vaccination during the pandemic. 

That makes no sense, why would a variant appear in a country with low vaccinations rates instead of any othe countries with more than double of the percentage of the population already vaccinated (some of which have lots of cases daily). Your suspicions run contrary to the obvious situation. Once again a variant appeared in a place with defficient vaccination numbers, contrary to the antivaxxers propaganda.

I guess they're becoming more and more irrelevant as time goes by.

Baseless guesses only show your bias, the vaccines do offer protection even against the variants, at this point there is no evidence vaccinated people are as unprotected as unvaccinated ones for any variant of the SARS-CoV-2

-5 ( +10 / -15 )

Sanjinosebleed

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.12.21265796v1

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

That study only includes people who already have covid. Since the vaccine greatly lowers your chance of getting covid it reduces transmission (you can't transmit covid if you do not have it).

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Do you still sell those vaccinations as the final solution? They are a very important part in limiting the damages, but not more. It’s an illusion to think it’s over even if everyone would be vaccinated. That’s all only the first little step into a slightly better ‘normality’.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Sven Asai

Do you still sell those vaccinations as the final solution? They are a very important part in limiting the damages, but not more.

Wrong. They also reduce transmission. Not only that, when boosters are taken and we vaccinate 5 - 12 year old's, we will likely hit herd immunity in highly vaccinated nations.

It’s an illusion to think it’s over even if everyone would be vaccinated. That’s all only the first little step into a slightly better ‘normality’.

Not everyone would need to get vaccinated. We just need to hit herd immunity.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

"2020hindsightsToday  11:11 am JST

Sanjinosebleed

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.12.21265796v1

Not peer reviewed but pretty damning none the less for those who say vaccinations stop transmission!

That study only includes people who already have covid. Since the vaccine greatly lowers your chance of getting covid it reduces transmission (you can't transmit covid if you do not have it)."

HUH???

"Methods Consenting incarcerated persons with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection provided mid-turbinate nasal specimens daily for 10 consecutive days and reported symptom data via questionnaire. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), viral whole genome sequencing, and viral culture was performed on these nasal specimens. Duration of RT-PCR positivity and viral culture positivity was assessed using survival analysis

Results A total of 978 specimens were provided by 95 participants, of whom 78 (82%) were fully vaccinated and 17 (18%) were not fully vaccinated. No significant differences were detected in duration of RT-PCR positivity among fully vaccinated participants (median: 13 days) versus those not fully vaccinated (median: 13 days; p=0.50), or in duration of culture positivity (medians: 5 days and 5 days; p=0.29). Among fully vaccinated participants, overall duration of culture positivity was shorter among Moderna vaccine recipients versus Pfizer (p=0.048) or Janssen (p=0.003) vaccine recipients."

So the 82% of prisoners from the study who WERE fully vaccinated and HAD Covid...had the same viral load and the unvaxxed...OK I think you need a reread...

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

Here we go again! Time to get those booster shots for another new variant!!! And stop moaning that you were told 2 years ago that one shot will keep you safe for life!

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

Just based on quotations above not read article:

There was no mention of unvaxxed, only fully vaxed and not fully vaxed.

Also duration of positivity is not a measure of viral load

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

To Moderna, Pfizer, etal. and all the vax pushers, you caused this by selling and pushing non-vaccine vaccines, you own it.

Now how about we just start treating it instead of trying to wipe it off the face of the earth with 22 booster shots?

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Now how about we just start treating it instead of trying to wipe it off the face of the earth with 22 booster shots?

Preventative medical care is far more effective, cheaper and safer. 22? Come on. Get the shot.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

So the 82% of prisoners from the study who WERE fully vaccinated and HAD Covid...had the same viral load and the unvaxxed...OK I think you need a reread...

You fail to understand what you actually quoted, the 82% do not refer to the percentage of vaccinated people that were infected, but the percentage of the infected people that were vaccinated. If for example 95% of the population was vaccinated that would still mean a lower proportion of vaccinated people got infected.

The data also clearly is about a subset of the population, meaning that only those that already got infected, and symptomatic got examined, since the vaccine have already proved to reduce both things (becoming infected, and becoming symptomatic) this means they can only conclude that from the people that are vaccinated, some will not become infected (thus not transmit the disease) and some that are infected will not develop symptoms (thus their viral loads not examined) but from the fraction that do become infected and symptomatic their viral loads are comparable with unvaccinated people.

To Moderna, Pfizer, etal. and all the vax pushers, you caused this by selling and pushing non-vaccine vaccines, you own it.

So the world experts say exactly the opposite of everything you wrote, and to contradict them you present exactly... zero evidence. That is not convincing at all.

-12 ( +4 / -16 )

First the virus, then mutants/variants, followed by deadly Delta, now comes 'super mutant', what else on the way?

WHO says they are calling a 'special' meeting, but not to be alarmed. Is this a contradiction or cover-up..?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Unfortunately, the boosters are just extra doses of the vaccine made for the original COVID strain. Good protection, but not as good as it could be.

Exactly. And much of the more impressive data being thrown around about its effectiveness is mainly based on pre-delta infections. With delta, they just give a few months of reduced symptoms. I wouldn't be surprised if the vaccines don't even provide that protection against this new highly mutated South African variant.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

WHO says they are calling a 'special' meeting, but not to be alarmed. Is this a contradiction or cover-up..?

It’s a meeting.

Could be neither a contradiction nor cover-up. But if you want to feel alarmed and create a conspiracy you’ll find a few like-minded folk here who’ll give you a thumbs up.

Personally I prefer to keep calm and wait for more information.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

One more reason to keep borders locked down and prohibit foreign tourists. And a BIG reason to get everyone vaccinated and then booster shots.

Variants are an adaptive mechanism. Which allows the virus to spread more readily. The pathogen is not more deadly, it has a higher rate of transmission, it is more contagious. Geographic separation tends to result in genetically distinct variants. Mutations in viruses — including the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic — are neither new nor unexpected. All RNA viruses mutate over time, some more than others. For example, flu viruses change often, which is why doctors recommend that you get a new flu vaccine every year.

Although vaccines afford very high protection, infection with the delta and other variants remain possible. Fortunately, vaccination, even among those who acquire infections, appears to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Researchers have preliminary evidence that some of the new variants seem to bind more tightly to our cells. This appears to make some of the new strains ‘stickier’ due to changes in the spike protein and therefore more easily transmitted.

It may be more advantageous for a respiratory virus to evolve so that it spreads more easily. On the other hand, mutations that make a virus more deadly may not give the virus an opportunity to spread efficiently. If we get too sick or die quickly from a particular virus, the virus has less opportunity to infect others. However, as with the delta variant, more infections from a faster-spreading variant will lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Japan ain’t opening up soon!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

This mutation spells trouble for the UK, which basically has an open border.

They are in for s long winter.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Live your life and block out the noise, you will be fine.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The fact is, if you are fully vaccinated you are less likely to end up in the ICU or dead.

Yeah, within a few months after the vax.

The fact is, if you receive early treatment you are much less likely to end up in the ICU or dead.

BTW, in South Africa, Dr. Shankara Chetty has had great success treating covid patients.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Fears over “worst ever” Covid variant as UK bans flights from southern Africa - BBC News - YouTube

According to the BBC, Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary said the variant may be the most infectious yet with over twice the mutations of the Delta and that would suggest that it may well be more transmissable and the current vaccines that we have may be less effective.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

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