‘World’s most mutated’ Covid strain with 34 mutations is found because fears grow the supervariant could prolong the pandemic

SCIENTISTS have identified what is believed to be the world’s most mutated Covid strain, as fear causes new supervariants to grow, which could prolong the pandemic.

The team of experts revealed their findings in a pre-printed research document reporting that the coronavirus variant contained 34 mutations.

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And among the changes are 14 in the ear protein – the part of the virus that uses it to get into human cells and make people sick.

The Brazilian variant has 18 mutations in total, with 10 mutations in the peak, while the British strain has 17 mutations, including eight key proteins.

The seemingly new variant also contains the alarming E484K modification – an escape mutation – that helps the virus defeat antibodies and get into other alarming strains.

The variation of interest (VOI) was discovered in three air travelers who arrived in Angola from Tanzania in mid-February – both countries have been on the British Red List since January.

Scientists from the Angola Ministry of Health, the Africa CDC, the universities of Oxford and Cape Town, and the multi-institutional research institute KRISP, have warned that the variant should be ‘urgently investigated’.

They also warned of the danger because Tanzania has a ‘largely undocumented epidemic’ with ‘few public health measures in place’.

The Tanzanian government is engaged in Covid denial, and President John Magufuli has been praying and asking for herbal steam to accelerate the virus until its sudden death in March.

The dreaded spread of the virus is feared as the increase in these mutations is fueled, which can make the bug more deadly, transmissible and skilled at evading antibodies.

Dr William A. Haseltine, a former professor at Havard, told The Sun Online the new variant is of great importance because of the large number of mutations, the type of mutations and the fact that it appears from a different virus’ genus ‘.

Most striking variants can be traced back to the B1 strain – but the new variants seem to have evolved from a different source.

He also expressed concern about the “vacuum of information” coming from Tanzania, which is hampering the monitoring of possible new mutations.

“These mutations can increase the concentration of the virus in infected people, which can help prolong the infection and increase transmissibility,” Dr Haseltine told The Sun Online.

He added: ‘The Tanzanian variant demonstrates the enormous versatility of this virus.

“Originally, many people expected this virus to be relatively stable, but it shows us with this variant and others that this is not the case.”

In the newspaper, the team warned that the “constellation of mutations” could mean that the variant is more resistant to antibodies and vaccines and could also be more contagious.

There is a vacuum of information coming from Tanzania that needs to be addressed immediately for Tanzanians and for the health of the world.

Dr. William A. Haseltine

The new VOI was temporarily called A.VOI.V2, while Dr Haseltine called it the “Tanzania variant”.

And the Human Vaccines Project said the virus has ‘more mutations’ than any previous strain.

This comes as fears arise that Covid’s rampant outbreaks around the world – such as in Brazil and India – could derail efforts to defeat the pandemic.

Brazil has been described as a ‘biological Fukushima’ due to the uncontrolled spread, while India is reaching a record level of infection every day with more than 200,000 new cases.

Both have produced new variants, such as the P1 from Brazil and the “double mutant” Covid from India.

Heads of the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned of the global outbreak as ‘aftermath’ as ​​super-variants continue to rise.

The global daily number of cases is now hitting the highs seen since the peak of the pandemic last year, with more than 800,000 daily infections.

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New mutations on the coronavirus can make it harder for the body’s immune system, which is prepared to be on the lookout for the ‘original’ strain, whether through vaccination or pre-infection, to recognize it.

Antibodies – proteins produced by the immune system to fight the virus – can be weaker against new strains.

The threat of new coronavirus strains also means that masks and social distance would be needed until 2022, despite vaccination of vaccines, and it is not clear when border controls will be relaxed.

And there were fears that if a new variant were to take hold, it might be necessary to limit further barriers to limit the spread.

Studies have shown that current vaccines are still working against new variants, but that they may be less effective.

Scientists are already working on adapted vaccines to deal with new mutations in the future, just like the flu vaccine that is changed every year.

Dr Haseltine told The Sun Online it is ‘absolutely critical’ that the unbridled spread of Covid reigns in countries such as Brazil and India to defeat the pandemic.

And he warned that areas where there are holes in Covid’s global monitoring, such as in Tanzania, could cause more surprise mutations.

He said: ‘The more the virus spreads, the more variants arise, and the greater the chance that the virus can increase in transmissibility, evade our immune response and increase virulence.

“In addition to the outbreaks in Brazil and India, we would add outbreaks in Eastern Europe, South America, North America, including here in the US.

“There is a vacuum of information coming from Tanzania that needs to be addressed immediately for Tanzanians and for the health of the world.”

The leading expert has warned that virus mutations are a “serious threat” to our current arsenal of vaccines – and there may already be variants that evade first-generation jabs.

“We believe, due to a lack of systematic oversight, there are still unmarked variants with improved properties to increase transmission, disease and immune evasion,” he said.

However, he added that it was critical that as many people as possible be vaccinated as soon as possible.

The special envoy of the WHO, Dr David Nabarro, addressed the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh last week, saying that new variants would be a “regular” occurrence while the virus was still prevalent around the world.

He warned: “The pandemic is almost over. We have seen four and a half million cases reported every week and know that this is a huge underestimation.

‘And we’re still seeing a significant number of deaths – almost three million.

“What I want to emphasize is that the pandemic is rising everywhere going forward.”

Dr Tony Lockett, of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King’s College London, had earlier told The Sun Online about the prospect of a devastating new mutation arising from the unbridled spread worldwide.

He said: ‘The effect – well, it can be devastating – much worse than the original, as younger people can get sicker and those who had the virus become infected with the new strain again.

“It’s really very scary.”

According to a survey among epidemiologists at The People’s Vaccine Alliance, coronavirus mutations have been warned to make vaccines redundant in less than a year.