Emergence and rapid spread of a new SARS-CoV-2 lineage with multiple spike mutations in South Africa

“Here, we describe a new SARS-CoV-2 lineage (501Y.V2) characterised by eight lineage-defining mutations in the spike protein, including three at important residues in the receptor-binding domain (K417N, E484K and N501Y) that may have functional significance.  More...

Beijing clamps down to fight Covid surge

“Just one night after announcing it was entering the “wartime mode,” North China’s Hebei Province, which neighbors Chinese capital Beijing, began putting in place various COVID-19 prevention measures on Wednesday amid a sudden spike in coronavirus infections, including controls on highways passing through Hebei leading to Beijing and other provinces, stopping sales of railway tickets to Beijing, suspending classes in schools, implementing closed-off managements in residential communities in provincial capital Shijiazhuang, and taking sweeping nucleic acid tests.  More...