UK, Israel seeing rise in Delta plus Covid variant
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Oct, 2021 11:09 AM
The UK and Israel are witnessing a surge in Covid-19 infections due to a new descendant of the Delta variant AY.4.2, also called the "Delta Plus" variant.
While Delta is the UK's dominant variant, AY.4.2 delta sublineage is currently increasing in frequency. It includes spike mutations A222V and Y145H, which might give the virus survival advantages, according to the latest report from the UK Health Security Agency.
AY.4.2 delta "sublineage accounted for approximately 6 per cent of all sequences generated, on an increasing trajectory", the report said.
"Delta remains the predominant variant... a Delta sublineage newly-designated as AY.4.2 is noted to be expanding in England. It is now a signal in monitoring and assessment has commenced," it added.
Although tests are underway to understand how much of a threat this Delta sub-variant may pose, experts say it is unlikely to take off in a big way or escape current vaccines, the BBC reported.
"It is potentially a marginally more infectious strain. It is nothing compared with what we saw with Alpha and Delta, which were something like 50 to 60 per cent more transmissible. So we are talking about something quite subtle here and that is currently under investigation," Prof. Francois Balloux, director of University College London's Genetics Institute, was quoted as saying to BBC.
"It is likely to be up to 10 per cent more transmissible," he added.
The British government is keeping a "very close eye" on rising levels of Covid-19 infections, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson said on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Scott Gottlieb, a former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, called for research into the sub-variant.
"UK reported its biggest one-day Covid-19 case increase in three months just as the new delta variant AY.4 with the S:Y145H mutation in the spike reaches eight per cent of UK sequenced cases," he wrote on Twitter.
"There's no clear indication that it is considerably more transmissible, but we should work to more quickly characterise these and other new variants. We have the tools," he added.
However, Balloux said that "at this stage, there is no need to panic. It might be slightly, subtly more transmissible but it is not something absolutely disastrous like we saw previously".
In Israel, an 11-year-old boy returning from Moldova to the country has been identified as Covid-19 positive, carrying the novel Delta variant AY4.2, the only recorded case in Israel of the new strand of the coronavirus, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The child was tested in Ben-Gurion Airport upon his arrival and has since been in self-isolation, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Barrons, a Dow Jones & Company publication, said that tensions in the "Middle East have the potential to lift prices." It noted that earlier JP Morgan had predicted that oil prices could touch $80 a barrel with rising demand and constraint supply.
While Biden has previously blamed Afghans for the U.S. failure to get out more allies ahead of this month's sudden Taliban takeover, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks ago that the administration ramp up evacuation efforts.
In a statement on Friday, the U.N. health agency said the new scientific group would provide the WHO with an independent analysis of the work done to date to pinpoint the origins of COVID-19 and to advise the agency on necessary next steps. The experts will also provide guidance on critical issues regarding the potential emergence of other viruses capable of triggering outbreaks, such as MERS and Ebola.
During their first press conference on Tuesday the Taliban pressed the right button-backing women's rights. But their promise of protecting women's rights had an important nuance: Women will enjoy freedoms but within the ambit of "Islamic law" .
A contingent of persons from the Hindu and Sikh communities who are stranded in Afghanistan were provided reassurance of safety by the Taliban, media reports said. Over 300 Hindus and Sikhs are reportedly taking shelter at the Karte Parwan Gurudwara in Kabul.
We need humanitarian supplies. The refugee situation we updated you with last week and the week before has only deteriorated. We have 300,000 internal refugees and 80,000 children who are without shelter and food. Where we were short of supplies, now we are out.
