Great News! New Immune Evasive SARS-CoV-2 B.1.620 Lineage Originating From Central Africa Now Silently Spreading Globally, Just In Time For Halloween!

B.1.620 Lineage: According to a new multinational research led by researchers from Lithuania, a new SARS-CoV-2 Lineage called B.1.620 has emerged from most probably Cameroon in Central Africa and has spreading silently across the globe silently while the world was more focused on the Delta variant and its emerging sub-variants.

 
This new immune evasive variant B.1.620 not only exhibits the spike protein mutation E484K but also carries a large number of unique mutations. In fact, this new SARS-CoV-2 strain is 18 mutations away from nearest relatives and 26 from the reference strain Wuhan-Hu-1.
 
This worrisome B.1.620 variant shares multiple mutations and deletions with known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) including HV69/70Δ, LLA241/243Δ, S477N, E484K, and P681H. However, it does not appear to be of recombinant origin.
 
This new lineage now includes genomes from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Czechia, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, the United States, Canada, and, most recently, the Philippines and South Korea. Initial B.1.620 European cases included travelers returning from Cameroon; however, more recently, genomes are also being submitted to GISAID from the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo.
 
It is currently causing a COVID-19 resurgence in Lithuania with worrying more critical outcomes.
 
In the study abstract, the researchers commented, “Distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages, discovered through various genomic surveillance initiatives, have emerged during the pandemic following unprecedented reductions in worldwide human mobility. We here describe a SARS-CoV-2 lineage - designated B.1.620, discovered in Lithuania and carrying many mutations and deletions in the spike protein shared with widespread variants of concern (VOCs), including E484K, S477N and deletions HV69Δ, Y144Δ, and LLA241/243Δ. As well as documenting the suite of mutations this lineage carries, we also describe its potential to be resistant to neutralizing antibodies, accompanying travel histories for a subset of European cases, evidence of local B.1.620 transmission in Europe with a focus on Lithuania, and significance of its prevalence in Central Africa owing to recent genome sequencing efforts there. We make a case for its likely Central African origin using advanced phylogeographic inference methodologies incorporating recorded travel histories of infected travellers.”
 
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26055-8
 
The WHO and U.S.CDC has been notified of the recent developments and the B.1.620 is likely to be upgraded to a VOC (Variant of concern) status in coming days.
 
This new B.1.620 lineage could not have arrived at a more opportune time ie with various stupid countries opening up and travel and tourism being stupidly promoted, Halloween, Diwali and other holidays around the corner.
 
The elites from UK and USA behind the eugenic and genocide program have so far been disappointed by the miniscule number of a mere 5 million COVID-19 deaths only so far. Hopefully in the coming winter surges, a more significant goal of between 500 million to 2 billion deaths could be achieved to rid the world of more stupid humans merely occupying space and devouring natural resources and air with nothing to contribute to mankind. (Let’s hope of most of them are the double vaccinated ones that had used the mRNA shots… or fans of Korean pop bands or the Kardashians. lol!)
 
The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus is constantly mutating. As of now, several different distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages have arisen in multiple geographic areas around the world.
 
The study team describes the B.1.620 lineage discovered in Lithuania.
 
From the research findings, the lineage is inferred to have originated in the Central African Republic and then dispersed to several neighboring countries throughout Europe, as well as the United States.
 
The GISAID or Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data aims to integrate efforts of the international scientific community to understand the spread and evolution of influenza viruses. As a result of this initiative, scientists have full access to comprehensive genetic sequencing, clinical, and epidemiological data from virus isolates.
 
The GISAID platform is a community resource project that was originally established in 2008. Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began, GISAID has proved to be a valuable resource for the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 genomic data and for inferring the emergence and spread of several SARS-CoV-2 lineages.
 
The new B.1.620 lineage, which was first identified in Lithuania, exhibits the spike protein mutation E484K. Due to repeated reports of this mutation, this lineage was redirected to sequencing.
 
Interestingly a search for relatives of this lineage on GISAID showed a few genomes from Europe initially; however, more relatives of this strain continue to be found. B.1.620 has a Pango lineage designation integrated into GISAID.
 
This new lineage now includes genomes from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Czechia, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, the United States, Canada, and, most recently, the Philippines and South Korea. Initial B.1.620 European cases included travelers returning from Cameroon; however, more recently, genomes are also being submitted to GISAID from the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo.
 
The B.1.620 genomes carry a large number of unique mutations. In fact, this SARS-CoV-2 strain is 18 mutations away from nearest relatives and 26 from the reference strain Wuhan-Hu-1.
 
The B.1.620 variant shares multiple mutations and deletions with known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) including HV69/70Δ, LLA241/243Δ, S477N, E484K, and P681H.
 
However, it does not appear to be of recombinant origin.
 
The study team determined precise travel dates and travel history through GISAID associated metadata and by contacting the submitting labs, who contacted the originating lab or the patient's general practitioner.
 
By identifying travel-related cases of B.1.620, the study team suspected Cameroon as the immediate source of this lineage. The genomes on GISAID from Cameroon were diverse and informative, thus suggesting that these could be distant relatives of B.1.620.
 
However, while this study was ongoing, SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the Central African Republic were deposited on GISAID; however, none of them resembled forebearer or sibling lineages to B.1.620.
 
The B.1.620 lineage carries the D614G mutation, which enhances infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 as a result of its enhanced interactions with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor. B.1.620 also carries the P26S, HV69/70Δ, V126A, Y144Δ, LLA241/243Δ, and H245Y mutations in the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike protein. These mutations may have arisen as an escape from antibody-mediated immunity.
 
Importantly the spike protein of B.1.620 also carries S477N and E484K mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. However, in contrast to other VOCs, this strain of SARS-CoV-2 does not carry the N501Y or K417 mutations.
 
Utilizing in silico methods, the study team modeled the RBD-ACE-2 interface with the S477N and E484K substitutions. Molecular dynamics simulation of this interface indicated that B.1.620 may escape antibody-mediated immunity while maintaining a favorable interaction with the ACE-2 receptor.
 
Alarmingly, in Lithuania, the B.1.620 strain was found 2.4 times more often in vaccine breakthrough cases as compared to its population prevalence.
 
Although the frequency of B.1.620 across the five most affected European countries of Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Belgium appeared relatively stable, though at a low level, there is insufficient genomic surveillance and a more realistic situation could be missing.
 
However, there is an ongoing disseminated outbreak of B.1.620 in Lithuania. However, genomes of this lineage have been found from other regions in Europe. These other B.1.620 genomes from Europe appear to indicate ongoing transmission in Europe.
 
The study team compiled the B.1.620 genomes dataset. They had seven genomes from travelers, six of which were sampled in the Central African Republic (CAR) near the border with Cameroon. This indicates that the most plausible geographic region where B.1.620 is circulating widely is central Africa.

The individual travel histories that the scientists collected point to several independent introductions of B.1.620 into Europe. There were documented cases of infected travelers returning from Cameroon to Belgium, France, and Switzerland, as well as from Mali to Czechia.
 
The study team also identified evidence of ongoing local transmission of B.1.620 within Belgium.
 
Utilizing a Bayesian phylogeographic inference methodology, the scientists infer an African origin of lineage B.1.620.
 
From the findings, it was found that the variant then spread to different European countries through multiple introductions. Subsequent country-level phylogeographic analysis pointed to central Africa as the likely origin of this lineage.
 
More importantly, the study findings suggest that B.1.620 could be circulating more widely in Africa and that its detection in Europe mostly occurred in countries with recent active genomic surveillance programs. Detections of B.1.620 in African states neighboring Cameroon and the Central African Republic such as Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, even at low sequencing levels, suggest that B.1.620 may be prevalent in central Africa.
 
This current study highlights the global inequalities in infectious disease monitoring. These inequalities have an impact around the world since it is a global pandemic. Furthermore, the findings discussed here emphasize the importance of collecting and sharing associated metadata with genome sequences like travel histories.
 
Importantly, the scientific community should not undermine the importance of sharing critical metadata in a consistent and standardized manner.
 
For more on the B.1.620 Lineage, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.