Melissa Couto Zuber, The Associated Press
Published Monday, December 21, 2020 4:10 PM EST
The new lines of the virus responsible for COVID-19 have led to travel bans and concerns about increased transmissibility, but experts say it is unclear whether the latest strains are stronger than previous versions.
One strain appears to have dominated infections in the UK in the last month, while another new offspring has spread to South Africa. Both countries are facing high transmission rates recently, and an epidemiologist in the UK has suggested that mutations in the new component could make the virus 70% more infectious.
Health Canada said on Sunday that nothing currently suggests that the new mutations have any effect on the severity of symptoms, the antibody response or the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease expert at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., Agrees, saying we need more evidence before determining the potential impact.
“If it says yes, it’s more transmissible, then it’s relevant and alas, we’re going to have to address that,” Evans said.
“What we get is a lot of people who are scared because they hear about mutant viruses … I’m just frustrated because I have to see (evidence).”
Evans said it would make sense to see a new strain appear more frequently in areas where community transmission rates are already “exploding.”
But this may be more due to people’s behavior than the change in the virus itself, he said.
Jason Kindrachuk, a virologist at the University of Manitoba, says the pace at which we see the new strain in the UK seems to suggest that more is happening than just relaxed restraints and behavioral patterns.
And, although he agrees that more research is needed before he can discover the significance of the mutations, it will take some time.
“We are in this difficult time when something interesting has emerged, but now we must try to biologically validate what that means,” he said. “And this is not necessarily easy to do in real time, because a virus is spreading.
“But we have to do these experiments and see: can we show that there is an advantage in those new strains compared to other variants we have seen for SARS-CoV-2? And there will be a massive mental focus on this in labs around the world in the next few weeks. “
Genomic sequencing of the virus has shown that the British thread has already spread to other countries, but Health Canada said on Sunday that no new strains have been reported here.
The Canadian government has begun restricting travel to the UK for 72 hours since Monday, in an effort to keep the new strain of the virus out of the country. Several European countries have recently announced that they are also closing their borders to the UK
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief physician, said it was important to make sure the new strain did not start spreading in the country, for example by a non-quarantine traveler.
He also said that the genomic sequencing of the virus in the province takes place at the “speed of light”.
“We are watching him, watching him and watching him to make sure that the strains circulating here are happening,” he said. “Therefore, ongoing vigilance and laboratory oversight are essential and would certainly inform Ontario citizens if there is a risk.”
A report on the preliminary genomic characterization of the strain in the UK says that a “distinct group” of the virus has “an unusually large number of genetic changes, especially in the spike protein”.
Newly developed vaccines target this protein, but Art Poon, a researcher in the evolution of the virus at Western University, does not expect the mutations to impact the vaccine’s effectiveness.
“Many of these (mutations) are quite familiar to us and we would have anticipated this in the development of the vaccine,” he said. “But we also shouldn’t give the virus so many chances to change.”
There have been several SARS-CoV-2 mutations since it began circulating late last year, and Poon says part of the reason for this was our inability to suppress the virus in the first place.
“When you have more viruses in circulation, there is a better chance that the virus will move,” he said.
“But in terms of what we can do about it: all the standard recommendations for reducing transmission – reduce the number of contacts, stay home if you can, wear a mask – these things will help prevent these offspring.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 21, 2020.