A THIRD 'more infectious' Covid strain that is similar to the British and South African variants is found in Brazil - as America continues to welcome up to 40 flights a day from Bolsonaro's country
- The strain looks similar to the ones that emerged in Kent and in South Africa
- This suggests it could be faster to spread but is unlikely to be more deadly
- Scientists warn faster spread leads to more cases, leading to more deaths
A third 'more infectious' strain of coronavirus similar to the British and South African variants has been identified after mutating in Brazil.
The mutated variant of Covid was discovered in Tokyo, Japan last week in four people who had arrived on a flight from South America.
Scientists have said that the strain has similarities to those of the highly contagious variants found in England and South Africa.
Namely, it has a genetic mutation called N501Y, which changes the shape of the spike proteins found on the outside of the virus.
The mutation makes Covid more able to latch onto the receptors inside the body that it targets, meaning it makes it past the body's natural defences more often.
People who are exposed to the virus therefore become infected more often than they would if the other person was infected with an older, less contagious strain. However, there is no evidence to suggest the mutation makes the virus more deadly.
A World Health Organization report on the variant last week said: 'The variant was identified when whole-genome sequencing was conducted on samples from 4 travellers from Brazil who were tested at the airport.
'Through our regional offices, we are working with both Japanese and Brazilian authorities to evaluate the significance of these findings.
All three of the mutated versions of the coronavirus found in recent weeks – the ones from Britain, South Africa and Brazil – have had a change on the spike protein of the virus called N501Y, which scientists say makes it better able to latch onto the body and spread
This new variant (shown in light green) was first spotted in Brazil in October and accounted for a growing share of infections there in November
'We are also working with our Viral Evolution Working Group to assess the significance of this, and if this variant as well as others identified in recent months result in changes in transmissibility, clinical presentation or severity, or if they impact on countermeasures, including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
'The same comprehensive approach to controlling Covid-19 works against these variants. At an individual level, protective measures work for all identified variants: physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue.'
The new variants from South Africa and Brazil have the world on edge because they may not respond as well to vaccines, but they are still relatively rare.
A new variant in Brazil was first identified in Rio de Janeiro, the sprawling but densely populated city on the country's seaside in October.
At first, it was mostly isolated to the city, but already driving cases and infections back again in the hard-hit city, which has seen 470,138 cases to-date.
But, by December 23, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro researchers who discovered it were becoming concerned.
'The significant increase in the frequency of this lineage raises concerns about public health management and the need for genomic surveillance during the second wave of infections,' they wrote.
At the time, it was clear that the variant was becoming more common, but how exactly it differed an might be more dangerous wasn't clear.
But by December 26, the potential risks of its mutations were becoming clearer.
It is too early on in the variant's discovery for politicians or scientists to be confident about how the changes to the virus will affect outbreaks.
Lab testing suggests its N501Y mutation could make it more transmissible – the UK variant with the same change is estimated to be around 56 per cent more infectious, but other changes to the virus may affect this, too.
And another key mutation in the variant, named E484K, which is also on the spike protein, may be associated with an ability to evade parts of the immune system called antibodies, researchers from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro said in a scientific paper published online.
However, there are multiple immune cells and substances involved in the destruction of coronavirus when it gets into the body so this may not translate to a difference in how people get infected or recover.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan said in its report that the people infected with the variant were found in airport screening in Tokyo on January 2.
They had travelled from Amazonas, a state in the north of Brazil which contains the city Manaus, home to two million people and the first place the variant was found.
The disease institute (NIID) said: 'Information on the variant isolate is limited to viral genome sequence data.
'Further investigation is necessary to assess infectivity, pathogenicity, and impact on laboratory diagnosis and vaccine efficacy of this variant strain.
'NIID recommends that persons infected with the variant isolate should be monitored in an isolated room and active epidemiological investigation should be initiated including contact tracing (with source investigation) and monitoring of the clinical course.'
Ministers and experts have said the repeated emergence of new variants is a warning sign that the coronavirus is evolving frequently and that some of the evolutions make significant changes to how the virus works.
Although the variants spotted already don't seem to make the virus more deadly or have the ability to get past a vaccine, the more different variants there are, the more likely it is than one will have a mutation that spells disaster.
Professor Tulio de Oliveira, a virologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in Durban, South Africa, told The Telegraph: 'This variant is a wake up call that we should try to really decrease transmission of SARS-CoV-2 [coronavirus].
'It is clear that if you leave it circulating, the virus has the ability to outsmart us and become better at transmission and evasion of the antibody response.'
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today revealed officials are looking at ways to stop the variant from arriving in the UK. He told MPs: 'We are concerned about the new Brazilian variant.
'We already have tough measures, as you know, to stop from new infections come from abroad. We are taking steps to do that in response to the Brazilian variation.'
Scientists working in Britain have not yet announced any coronavirus cases caused by the variant on UK soil, although it is likely widespread in Brazil already.
The variant that emerged in Kent, now estimated to be around 56 per cent more transmissible than its predecessor, has quickly become the dominant form of the virus in England and has led to the country's longest lockdown since March 2020.
There is no evidence to suggest vaccines will be any less effective against this variant. Pfizer, maker of the first jab to be approved, tested theirs on the similar UK and South Africa variants and said it still worked just as well.
As the British coronavirus variant occupies countries' pandemic plans, other mutations to the Sars-CoV-2 are provoking concern among scientists who are scrambling to work out if they will still respond to vaccines.
In particular, one mutation, known as E484K, detected initially in South Africa and on subsequent variants in Brazil and Japan, has raised alarm among researchers.
Ravi Gupta, professor of microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said it is this mutation - and not the British variant - that is 'the most worrying of all'.
Although research into the new variant is limited, a Brazilian study this month looked at a patient who had recovered from Covid-19 only to become reinfected with the new, mutated strain.
The paper has yet to be peer-reviewed, but the authors found that the E484K mutation could be 'associated with escape from neutralising antibodies' - meaning it could bypass the body's natural defence memory that bestows immunity.
As countries accelerate their vaccination programmes, there is concern that the new mutation may render certain vaccines less effective.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, for example, use mRNA technology to deliver instructions to the body to produce a harmless coronavirus spike protein, which the immune system then learns to kill in anticipation of a genuine infection.
With E484K, as with the British variant, the mutation occurs on the virus' spike protein, which allows it to bind more easily with human cell receptors, potentially heightening its infectiousness.
Gupta said the mutation 'could be the start of problems for spike vaccines'. 'They should all be effective at the moment but we worry about further mutations occurring on top of these ones,' he told AFP.
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech said last week that their vaccine was effective against the N501Y mutation found on the British virus variant, known as B117.
Francois Balloux, professor of Computational Systems Biology and Director of University College London's Genetics Institute, said it was unlikely that the South African variant had mutated sufficiently to 'bypass the protection provided by current vaccines'.
But, he warned: 'The E484K mutation has been shown to reduce antibody recognition. As such, it helps the virus Sars-CoV-2 to bypass immune protection provided by prior infection or vaccination.'
There have been several mutations to the novel coronavirus since it emerged in late 2019, and most have had a negligible effect on its transmissibility or severity.
But the British variant has shown in several studies to be up to 70 percent more infectious than normal virus strains.
And the South African variant appears to be more effective at avoiding the body's natural response.
One pre-print study in December concluded that the two new variants show that Sars-CoV-2 'has the potential to escape an effective immune response'.
Researchers studied what happened to the virus when it was left in contact with plasma taken from a patient who had recovered from Covid-19.
Within three months, the virus had taken on several mutations, including E484K.
The authors suggested that 'vaccines and antibodies able to control emerging variants should be developed.'
Lead researcher Rino Rappuoli, an immunologist at pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, told AFP that the current spike protein mutations should not pose a problem for existing vaccines, however.
And even if the virus mutates to better evade immune response, vaccines should bestow at least some level of effective immunity.
'Even if you lower the efficacy, there would normally still be some neutralisation of the virus,' Vincent Enouf, from Paris's Pasteur Institute, told AFP.
To be on the safe side, Gupta advocated an accelerated vaccination programme, bestowing as much immunity as current vaccines can deliver 'as fast as possible all over the world.'
Most watched News videos
- Terrifying moment driver overtakes van and narrowly avoids crash
- Sally Nugent hilariously finds out 'hedgehog' is a hat bobble
- Starmer and Rayner embrace as they launch election campaign
- Three men seen running out of Beckenham station after knife attack
- 'Satan took over me': Hamas terrorist confesses of raping woman
- Heartless criminals steal van terminally ill boy uses
- Camilla hands out gifts at Royal Maundy ceremony on behalf of King
- Tourist is filmed napping in his tent on the beach with a crocodile
- Hilarious moment King's Guard shout 'make way' at pigeons in London
- Police carry slingshots to defend themselves against crazed monkeys
- Russian plane spiralling out of control crashes in sea in Crimea
- Queen Camilla greets children after traditional Maundy service