BREAKING COVID-19 News! Variant Hunters In The last 20 Hours Have Identified A New Worrisome SARS-CoV-2 Variant With Numerous Mutations!
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 24, 2023 11 months, 4 weeks, 12 hours, 33 minutes ago
COVID-19 News: Variant hunters and researchers in the last 20 hours have identified yet another worrisome SARS-CoV-2 saltation with numerous mutations on it that could result in enhanced pathogenesis.
While at present, the various SARS-CoV-2 variants and sub-lineages already in circulation are still evolving and mutating at a rapid rate and spawning many newer sub-lineages, some with or without the right viral fitness, this new variant is already from a sub-lineage that is known to increase the odds of disease severity.
The new variant is actually from the BA.2.3 ancestry and is described as a GJ.1.2.6 saltation with the mutations: ORF1a:A967V, ORF1a:T1168I, ORF1a:A3956S, ORF1b:S1552G, S:K97N, S:F456L and ORF8:A65V
https://github.com/sars-cov-2-variants/lineage-proposals/issues/1109
It also contains a lot more of other mutations including S:T478R.
To date a total of 9 sequences of the variant has been detected with the first sequence uploaded on to GISAID on the 6th of October apparently from a hospitalized patient in Arizona-USA. (EPI_ISL_18415781)
The last sequence to have been uploaded on GISAID that had resemblance to this new variant was on the 07th of November 2023, from a patient in Noord-Brabant-Netherlands. (EPI_ISL_18522371).
So far, the variant has only been found in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.
However variant hunter and scientists are worried that as a result of extremely low genomic surveillance at the moment, the prevalence and spread of this new variant could be far more extensive.
Some are also speculating that the new variant could have originated from the Philippines based on its ancestry.
There is no data as of yet about the immune evasiveness of this variant or about its transmissibility but various research teams globally have been informed of its discovery.
A name has yet to be assigned to the new variant.
Researchers also warn that the various mutations found on the new variant are suggestive of enhanced pathogenesis but warrants further data and research.
The ORF8:A65V mutation found on this new variant is also of concern to researchers as mutations found here are typically associated with enhanced fusogenic properties and also increased disease severity.
According to various
COVID-19 News coverages, COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing in various geolocations across the world despite authorities and ‘experts’ claiming that the new SARS-CoV-2 sub-lineages currently in circulation do not cause disease severity!
Also, it should be warned that attention and more monitoring efforts should be paid to such emerging variants and they should never be assumed to be of no threat as they can easily adapt and gain the right viral fitness to become a threat as in the case of the BA.2.86 variant which has now spawned more than 19 different sub-lineages, with many expected to become predominant in circulation in coming w
eeks and are expected to wreak more havoc. (Thailand Medical News will be covering this in a separate article shortly.)
We can also expect the usual narratives by the authorities, researchers and labs that are under the payroll of the WEF and the pharma giants, claiming that the current vaccines and boosters offer protection against all the new SARS-CoV-2 variants and sub-lineages!
Thailand Medical News will be providing more updates on this new variant.
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