See, viruses mutate all the time. Perhaps someone sciencey could explain one mutating at least 5-6 times in a year
Covid variant found in South Africa is worrying experts: Here’s what we know so far
Viruses mutate all the time and it’s come as no surprise to experts the coronavirus that emerged in China at the end of 2019 has undergone several significant mutations as the virus replicates and spreads.
But a new strain of the virus that has emerged in South Africa is causing concern. Like a variant that has been discovered in the U.K. in recent months, the one that has emerged in South Africa is proving to be far more transmissible.
While being able to spread more easily, so far, scientists do not believe either new variant is more deadly. But being more transmissible means more people can get infected, and this could mean more serious infections and more fatalities as a result.
Questions are now being raised over whether the coronavirus vaccines developed at breakneck speed in the last year, the western frontrunners being those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, will be effective against significant mutations of the virus, such as the one identified in South Africa.
While scientists believe that the U.K. variant is not likely to affect the efficacy of the vaccines currently being rolled out in the West, there is more uncertainty regarding the South Africa strain.
If I was a conspiracy theory type person, I’d be wondering if this is just government propaganda to continue to keep people locked down, controlled, and more and more used to being controlled by government. Also, that China was doing shady things with a virus that made it so likely to be able to mutate so easily
Covid: WHO team investigating virus origins denied entry to China
A World Health Organization (WHO) team due to investigate the origins of Covid-19 in the city of Wuhan has been denied entry to China.
Two members were already en route, with the WHO saying the problem was a lack of visa clearances.
However, China has challenged this, saying details of the visit, including dates, were still being arranged.
The long-awaited probe was agreed upon by Beijing after many months of negotiations with the WHO.
The virus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019, with the initial outbreak linked to a market.
Well, now that WHO did all they kid to cover for China in 2019 and through mid-2020, they are no longer needed as Useful Idiots by China. Because they might actually find something out with Bat Soup Virus that shows this had zero to do with a wet market and everything to do with a research facility.
Teach asks: Perhaps someone sciencey (sic) could explain one mutating at least 5-6 times in a year
RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 have higher mutation rates than DNA viruses because RNA is inherently less stable than DNA and the enzymatic machinery that copies RNA is more prone to mistakes than for DNA. Other RNA viruses such as the common cold, influenza, SARS and MERS have high mutation rates as well. So it’s not unexpected that Covid has mutated. The Covid virus is widespread in humans and has a relatively low death rate. Compare to another RNA virus, Ebola, which it isn’t widespread and kills quickly.
Mutations in the RNA sequence can be silent since multiple codons (3 bases) code for most amino acids (tryptophan has only one, UGG; but leucine has 6; most others have 2 to 4), meaning that a base mutation is unlikely to result in a change in the peptide sequence. Even some changes in the peptide sequences have no impact in the phenotype of the virus, e.g., no change in stability, no change in selectivity , no change in binding efficiency.
Currently, the dominant form is the Wuhan version with the D614G (Aspartic acid –> Glycine substitution on amino acid sequence site 614 of the Covid spike protein). This means at site 614 the original virus from Wuhan had an aspartic acid, but the predominant form now has a glycine there.
The new “UK” mutations include N501Y (asparagine –> lysine) on the spike protein; a histidine69 and valine70 deletion on the ACE2 receptor binding site of the spike protein (this is the mutation that jumped to mink)… these mutations appear to increase the ability of the virus to enter cells, hence the increased infectivity. It’s unknown if the mutations affect the ability of antibodies to recognize the virus.
Viral mutations are not an indication of laboratory manipulation. There is no evidence that China or anyone else created or manipulated SARS-CoV-2.