France: 46 cases of B.1.1.7 with E484Q mutation in Bordeaux coronavirus outbreak of VOC 20I/484Q
The French city of Bordeaux is to fast-track vaccinations for residents in one neighbourhood, opening access the jab for all adults after nearly 50 people tested positive for a “very rare” variant of Covid-19. Labelled VOC 20I/484Q, the strain is related to the British variant B.1.1.7 but with an additional mutation E484Q. The variant has already been identified on a national level in France but it has reportedly been very rare until now. At least 46 people have been infected with the variant in Bordeaux, with mass testing launched on Friday to track down further cases.
“There has never been a cluster like that in the general population,” said Professor Patrick Dehail of the The National Reference Center in Lyon
UPDATE 1: There’s nothing in the latest Epidemiological Update from French Health Department about 20I/E484Q, but 20I/E484K gets a mention:
Le VOC 20I/484K, identifié pour la première fois en Grande-Bretagne suite à l’acquisition par le VOC 20I/501Y.V1 de la mutation E484K, était peu détecté en France jusqu’à la mi-mars. Une transmission communautaire a été rapportée depuis début avril dans plusieurs régions : Bretagne (en particulier à Brest), Ile-de-France et Hauts-de-France. Toutefois, le variant 20I/484K restait très nettement minoritaire par rapport au variant 20I/501Y. Dans les autres régions, aucune évolution notable dans les détections de cas du variant 20I/E484K n’a été observée et le nombre de cas restait faible.
UPDATE 2: The European CDC, which still lists all B.1.617 sub-lineages as Variants of Interest (VOI), not Variants of Concern (VOC), shows the E484Q mutation appears in both B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3, but NOT B.1.617.2
More….
UK: coronavirus variant B.1.617.2 within hours of outcompeting B.1.1.7 in Britain
Image by Göran Waldt from Pixabay