90 cases of Brazil related coronavirus variant PHL-B.1.1.28 in The Philippines

The Philippines now has all three variants of the coronavirus that have been fuelling record-breaking spikes in infections across the globe, and a Philippine variant (PHL-B.1.1.28) that has the same lineage as the infectious Brazilian variant.  More...

Japan identifies a B.1.1.28 coronavirus strain with E484K and N501Y mutations from a traveller from the Philippines

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, identified a B.1.1.28 strain with E484K and N501Y mutations from a SARS-CoV-2-positive sample collected on February 25, 2020 at a point of entry to Japan from a traveller from the Philippines(virus name : hCoV-19/Japan/IC-0824/2021, GISAID Accession ID: EPI_ISL_1198832) (1).  More...

Genomics and epidemiology of a novel SARS-CoV-2 lineage in Manaus, Brazil P1 coronavirus

Through genome sequencing of viruses sampled in Manaus between November 2020 and January 2021, we identified the emergence and circulation of a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, lineage P.1, that acquired 17 mutations, including a trio in the spike protein (K417T, E484K and N501Y) associated with increased binding to the human ACE2 receptor.  More...

Phylogenetic relationship of SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Amazonas with emerging Brazilian variants harboring mutations E484K and N501Y in the Spike protein

Here we report a preliminary genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.28 lineage circulating in the Brazilian Amazon region and their evolutionary relationship with emerging and potential emerging SARS-CoV-2 Brazilian variants harboring mutations in the RBD of Spike (S) protein.  More...

Fauci: new coronavirus variant has caused reinfection in South Africa

Fauci: “When we were communicating with our many scientific and public health colleagues in South Africa, they were telling us over the phone ‘something strange is going on right now, we have people who were infected several months ago, who now with this new strain are getting reinfected, which is telling you that the immune response induced to the first infection wasn’t good enough to prevent the second infection”

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-30-21/index.html  More...