Scientists sound alarm over new 'worst-ever' super-mutant Covid variant

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Manufacturers of Americas most used vaccines are saying that they can quickly respond to challenges presented by the South African Nu variant.
The recently emerged variant is believed to be the most infectious yet, and some fear it could evade protection provided but the current crop of COVID-19 vaccines.
Pfizer, its vaccine partner BioNTech and Moderna, who are responsible for producing the two most common vaccines in the U.S., have all said they can quickly update the vaccines to provide protection against the emerging variant, if necessary.
While the variant is yet to have been detected in the United States, it has appeared in multiple countries in Africa and Europe, keeping American officials on high alert.

Moderna and BioNTech and Pfizer tell us that they are already looking at this very closely and have told us they can update the vaccines very quickly if they need to' CNBC's Meg Tirell said on TechCheck Friday.

Moderna can begin clinical trials for vaccines effective against a potentially resistant variant within 60 days, Tirell reports.

She also reports that Pfizer can adapt its mRNA vaccine within six weeks if necessary, and would have a product to ship out within 100 days if need.

'Within two weeks BioNTech says it expects lab data to tell us whether this is really an escaped variant, one that can really evade the protections of the vaccines,' she said.

More than 108 million Americans have been fully vaccinated by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and 71.5 million by the Moderna shot according to data published Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Because of the new nature of the variant, not much is known about it yet.

What experts have learned so far has them concerned, though.

'What's particularly concerning about this variant is that it has more than 30 mutations on the spike protein, some of which are known and have been associated with increased transmissibility and the potential to evade the protections from vaccines or prior infection,' Tirell said.

'They call it an unusual constellation of mutations.

'Still, some of these variants, their mutations aren't known yet, and so their effect really isn't understood.

'So whether that confers to more severe disease or less severe disease, and that's just not known at this point.'
 

hollydolly said:
While the variant is yet to have been detected in the United States, it has appeared in multiple countries in Africa and Europe, keeping American officials on high alert.
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Its coming probably already here, just needs to be detected.
hollydolly said:
So whether that confers to more severe disease or less severe disease, and that's just not known at this point.
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Fortunately as viruses evolve and mutate they tend to get less sever. The less sick a virus makes us the more readily it is spread, killing the host isn't good for the virus. Most human viruses have evolved into benign forms. Let's hope this one does as well, and soon!
 
Here we go again...!! Announced tonight, Masks have yet once more become Mandatory in shops and on public transport... and any public indoors venue.

Personally I'm not troubled by the reintroduction of masks , because I've not stopped wearing mine in those areas.. incnvenient tho' it may be I've always erred on the side of caution..but the majority of people have stopped using them, and many of those with great relief because they found for a myriad of reasons they either couldn't or wouldn't wear them, so this is going to be very upsetting for them..

However it's not the mask wearing that's troublesome for me, but what path it's leading us down very quickly, just as it did this time last year where we were all locked down before Christmas after promises from the government that we wouldn't be, ...and families lost the chance to meet each up with other especially the families who had members who were elderly and or sick . I can see despite all the promiises that this is going to be a repeat for the 3rd time...

Covid restrictions in England including travel bans, testing and compulsory facemasks will be necessary to fight the new Omicron variant, the Prime Minister has announced.

At a Downing Street press conference this evening, Boris Johnson said that all arrivals to the country must self-isolate until they get a negative test, and all contacts of people infected with the mutation must stay at home for 10 days.

Flanked by Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, the Prime Minister also announced that facemasks on public transport and shops will be compulsory. There will be no changes to the rules for the hospitality sector, he added.

Mr Johnson said details of the 'tightening up' of the mask rules will be outlined by Health Secretary Sajid Javid 'in the next day or so'. But Downing Street said they will become mandatory 'from next week'. The Prime Minister said the measures would be reviewed in three weeks.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...el-crackdown-fight-Omicron-Covid-variant.html
 

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hollydolly said:
but what path it's leading us down very quickly, just as it did this time last year where we were all locked down before Christmas after promises from the government that we wouldn't be, ...and families lost the chance to meet each up with other especially the families who had members who were elderly and or sick . I can see despite all the promiises that this is going to be a repeat for the 3rd time...
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I hope this new variant can be contained so that these measures don't become necessary in the US, the UK or elsewhere.
 
Alligatorob said:
Any idea when that becomes effective? My friend is in flight to London now...
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No specific date as yet, just this..''

Health Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to clarify the timeline over the next couple of days, with No10 suggesting they will be introduced 'next week'.

It marks the first time since last winter that restrictions have been tightened in England - although Scotland and Wales have previously responded to spiking infection rates.

The premier said the measures will be reviewed in three weeks, and in the meantime the booster jab campaign will be ramped up.

As well as face coverings, travellers to the UK are now required to take a negative PCR test by the end of the second day on their return, and isolate until they get their result.
Contacts of those who test positive for those with Omicron must also isolate for ten days, “regardless of your vaccination status”.
The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference on Saturday: “We’re not going to stop people travelling, I want to stress that, we’re not going to stop people travelling, but we will require anyone who enters the UK to take a PCR test by the end of the second day after their arrival and to self-isolate until they have a negative result.
“Second, we need to slow down the spread of this variant here in the UK, because measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant rather than stop it all together.
“We will require all contacts of those who test positive with a suspected case of Omicron to self-isolate for 10 days regardless of your vaccination status.
 
Gaer said:
Why is it taking so long to stop incoming flights from Africa? Why wasn't this done right away?
I'm sure this variant is now in the U.S.
Then, of course, there are the 1.5 million migrants coming over the Southern border.
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the same questions are being asked in the media this evening...

Alarms were today raised after one in ten passengers coming into the Netherlands from South Africa this morning tested positive for Covid and a wave of suspected cases of the new super-mutant variant were spotted in Europe.

Around 600 passengers arrived on two planes in Schipol Airport, near Amsterdam, from Johannesburg — the epicentre for the new strain that experts fear is 40 per cent more vaccine evasive than Delta — hours after travel bans were put in place.

Some 61 of those on the planes tested positive for the virus on PCR tests after they were stopped at the airport, despite having to provide proof of a negative lateral flow test taken within 24 hours before boarding the flight.

It raises the prospect that tests are not being performed correctly for travellers in South Africa, fraudulent tests are being provided or lateral flow tests may be less able to detect the Omicorn variant.

People returning to the Netherlands from outside the EU are required to take to show either a negative PCR tests taken 48 hours before their arrival or a negative lateral flow swab done 24 hours before coming back.

The test results have to include name and contact information of the institute, doctor or laboratory that conducted the test.

Europe's first case of the variant was spotted in Belgium yesterday — despite the unvaccinated woman who caught it having travelled to Turkey and Egypt, not souther Africa where the strain emerged.

The UK confirmed it had sequenced two cases today — in Nottingham and Brentford, Essex — which were both linked to travel in southern Africa.

And Germany and the Czech Republic both confirmed suspected cases today. Germany's initial sequencing suggests a traveler from South Africa was carrying the virus with several mutations shared by Omicron. Officials are awaiting full sequencing later today.

And Australian authorities — who also banned travel to nine countries in the region — fear the variant may have already entered the country.

South Africa recorded 2,828 new Covid cases yesterday, more than double the 1,374 recorded last Thursday, but infection levels have yet to skyrocket in the country and no hospitalisations with the new variant have occurred so far.
 
chic said:
Holly, I heard about the Nu variant late last summer and wondered why nothing ever came of it. Africa has low vaccination rates except in South Africa where people have been vaxxed and where this is coming from. Africa has done well compared to many European countries regarding covid, perhaps because of all the other anti virals they take over there.

I think the media is trying to scare people into panic so they will get vaccinated voluntarily and then countries like Austria won't look so bad forcing vaxx mandates on all citizens or else. Europe is undergoing some of the most intense anti vaxx mandate protests I've seen and everyone has a negative view of countries who want to force the vaxx on their entire populations. Since you're fully vaxxed, you should be okay.

Peace from chic.
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"I think the media is trying to scare people into panic so they will get vaccinated voluntarily and then countries like Austria won't look so bad forcing vaxx mandates on all citizens or else."
Thinking that there is a new variant that the current vaccine is not likely to be effective on makes me even more hesitant to get vaccinated now. I was actually thinking about trying to get my first shot within the next two weeks. If this Emicron variant is more contagious, then it's likely to become the dominant strain fairly soon.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
"I think the media is trying to scare people into panic so they will get vaccinated voluntarily and then countries like Austria won't look so bad forcing vaxx mandates on all citizens or else."
Thinking that there is a new variant that the current vaccine is not likely to be effective on makes me even more hesitant to get vaccinated now. I was actually thinking about trying to get my first shot within the next two weeks. If this Emicron variant is more contagious, then it's likely to become the dominant strain fairly soon.
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This is also my Daughters' Viewpoint...
 
Gaer said:
Why is it taking so long to stop incoming flights from Africa? Why wasn't this done right away?
I'm sure this variant is now in the U.S.
Then, of course, there are the 1.5 million migrants coming over the Southern border.
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I wondered the same thing Gaer. I saw a report that South African officials think the ban on flights from there is unfair. I disagree. Just as I suspected, within only a couple of days, ten more countries (outside of Africa) have now reported cases of Omicron. Several people got off a flight from S.A. in the Netherlands with it. Netherlands and Portugal both reported 13 cases and the U.K. reported 9 cases so far. Here's the list of countries: https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/world/covid-omicron-variant-countries-list-cmd-intl/index.html
@hollydolly @StarSong
 
Switzerland's restrictions seem more realistic and scientific than the knee jerked reactions from most other countries. Omicron is Omicron. If restrictions are placed on the southern countries in Africa, then the same should be on any country that has confirmed cases.

"Switzerland on Saturday widened quarantine requirements to stem the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant to travellers arriving from Britain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Egypt and Malawi, where cases have been detected, its health ministry said.

On Friday, Switzerland banned direct flights from South Africa and the surrounding region due to the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, while also imposing restrictions on travel from other countries including Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium."

https://www.reuters.com/markets/eur...ands-three-others-quarantine-list-2021-11-27/

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...n-netherlands-three-others-to-quarantine-list

I think it is all for nothing anyway because it's a global economy. I would bet the farm that Omicron is already in New York and California.
 
Beginning at midnight, Switzerland adds restrictions for more countries:

"Switzerland will require travelers from Portugal, Nigeria, Canada and Japan to quarantine for 10 days due to the presence of the Omicron variant in those countries."
 
OneEyedDiva said:
"I think the media is trying to scare people into panic so they will get vaccinated voluntarily and then countries like Austria won't look so bad forcing vaxx mandates on all citizens or else."
Thinking that there is a new variant that the current vaccine is not likely to be effective on makes me even more hesitant to get vaccinated now. I was actually thinking about trying to get my first shot within the next two weeks. If this Emicron variant is more contagious, then it's likely to become the dominant strain fairly soon.
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Miss Diva, doctors in South Africa are saying that fully vaccinated patients are experiencing very mild symptoms and recover at home within a few days, and that the only patients who have required hospitalization are people who are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. That's how it stands so far.
 
Murrmurr said:
Miss Diva, doctors in South Africa are saying that fully vaccinated patients are experiencing very mild symptoms and recover at home within a few days, and that the only patients who have required hospitalization are people who are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. That's how it stands so far.
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That's what they're saying about all Covid - that only the unvaccinated are getting seriously ill. They also told us "Getting vaccinated will get us back to normal."
I'm not buying either one.
LOL - "Worst Ever Variant." When flu shot sales started lagging, they used that same line:
"Get your flu shot early, because this year will be the worst ever flu season." :ROFLMAO:
 
Murrmurr said:
Miss Diva, doctors in South Africa are saying that fully vaccinated patients are experiencing very mild symptoms and recover at home within a few days, and that the only patients who have required hospitalization are people who are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. That's how it stands so far.
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Miss Diva was quoting chic. You're welcome.
 

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