Covid update and India implications
Greater immune escape and infectivity IS NOT the only concern with this variant: the L452R spike mutation that it has acquired is shared with Delta, Delta +, Lambda & Epsilon: when this mutation was added to BA1 it caused much more severe disease in a mouse model: this implies quite strongly that we are now looking at the Deltacrons dominating that were once mocked, then dismissed as being fake...now should be feared.
BA4/5 are now taking off, there appears to be a general agreement they will dominate the coming waves: especially in South Africa: these variants are not to be taken lightly.
As we can see from SA genomic surveillance BA4/5 (attached) are going to dominate soon: there's a clear advantage — can't be denied it's come up in a matter of 6 or so weeks to this point:
It is interesting that both BA4/5 are coming up in equal measures almost (have we seen that before)?
It also has a rare mutation in the receptor binding domain (RBD) That's another potentially worrying sign.
India must watch for BA.4 and BA.5 to lead its 4th wave. People must take all precautions. more