The newly identified variant, which appears to be significantly more contagious than the tensions that arose in China in 2019, is due to the fact that the number of viruses is forcing many countries to enforce new closures.
The committee normally meets every three months, but the WTO said the director general was moving the meeting forward “to discuss issues that need to be discussed urgently.”
“These are the recent variations and considerations on usage [of] vaccination and test certificates for international travel, ”the global body said on Wednesday.
Mutations in Sars-CoV-2 are causing concern among scientists trying to determine whether they will respond to vaccines.
In particular, one mutation, initially detected in South Africa and subsequent variants in Brazil and Japan, has raised alarm among researchers studying the variant known as 501Y.V2 to determine whether current vaccines will be effective. .
Experts believe that the vaccines will most likely continue to work against the new variants. Studies to confirm continue, but these experiments take time.
Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Cape Town, Marc Mendelson, told ABC News that it remains indefinite whether the South African variant is really more contagious. “Studies so far indicate that people infected with this variant have an increase in the virus load, which is likely to increase the person’s ability to transmit to others, both in South Africa and in the United States. Kingdom, which has a separate variant that also contains the same mutation at position 501 in the peak protein, ” Mendelson, who is also the head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine in Groote in Cape Town Schuur Hospital, told ABC News.
Mendelson said there is a lot of urgent work going on to study the mutation, and he is hopeful that there will be answers within the next few weeks. “The most urgent question is whether the mutations in the variant will affect the vaccine reactions. Then there is the question whether the variant is associated with more serious diseases? I do not see it on the spot (in my hospital), but subtle differences have a lot of data “This is anecdotal evidence. However, there is currently no sign that it is causing serious illness.”
A preliminary study found that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine appears to work against the mutated virus, but more studies are needed because the South African variant has a number of additional mutations, including changes to some of the virus’ vein protein.
According to Mendelson, the ear protein is not only essential for the administration of the virus, but it is also the place against which antibodies are produced to control the virus infection. “Simply put, these antibodies neutralize the virus by binding to specific sequences of the ear protein, preventing it from binding to a receptor in our cells and thus preventing it from entering. If you can penetrate the virus into cells, you can prevent that it repeats and prevents it from causing an infection.The cause of concern is again a number of mutations in the genetic code of the virus that have the variant.The consequent changes in the structure of the vein protein can the binding of antibodies to the ‘recognizing it’s sites and thus reducing the ability of our immune system to prevent the virus from entering and infecting cells.’
According to the WHO, the South African identified tribe was found in 20 countries, territories and territories after it was only reported to the WHO on 18 December.
“From preliminary and ongoing investigations in South Africa, it is possible that the 501Y.V2 variant is more transmissible than variants that have previously spread in South Africa,” reads the agency’s weekly report.
“In addition, although this new variant does not appear to cause more serious diseases, the observed rapid increase in the case has put health systems under pressure.” The geographical distribution of both variants is likely to be underestimated, the WTO said.
Fears over the increasing portability of the new variants are leading to new closures and additional measures to include COVID-19.
However, the South African strain is causing more concern due to an additional mutation that scientists have on the point, one called E484K, which may make certain vaccines less effective.
The WHO also noted that a third new coronavirus variant, ‘alarming’, found in Japan needs further investigation.
“The more the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change. High transmission levels mean we should expect more variants,” the WHO said. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. Viruses are constantly undergoing minor changes as they spread from person to person.
More than 90 million COVID-19 infections have been recorded worldwide since they first appeared in December 2019. The death toll from the pandemic is nearly two million people.