Education and Training
Tools and Services
Resources
Communication
In South Africa, a network of researchers are studying whether new lineages BA.4 and BA.5 escape immunity from COVID-19 vaccines and prior infections. Read more!
As the WHO mulls when to call the Covid pandemic over, attention is turning to the future. Last November, having alerted the world to the new and highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, South Africa-based scientist Tulio de Oliveira saw that country hit with travel bans.
Abstract
Continued uncontrolled transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in many parts of the world is creating conditions for substantial evolutionary changes to the virus. Here we describe a newly arisen lineage of SARS-CoV-2 (designated 501Y.V2; also known as B.1.351 or 20H) that is defined by eight mutations in the spike protein, including three substitutions (K417N, E484K and N501Y) at residues in its receptor-binding domain that may have functional importance. This lineage was identified in South Africa after the first wave of the epidemic in a severely affected metropolitan area (Nelson Mandela Bay) that is located on the coast of the Eastern Cape province. This lineage spread rapidly, and became dominant in Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu–Natal provinces within weeks. Although the full import of the mutations is yet to be determined, the genomic data—which show rapid expansion and displacement of other lineages in several regions—suggest that this lineage is associated with a selection advantage that most plausibly results from increased transmissibility or immune escape. Read more!
Update on Delta and other Variants in South Africa (presentation by Prof Tulio de Oliveira and Dr. Richard Lessells, KRISP)
Description
The COVID-19 module can be used to collect essential phenotypes associated with COVID-19 and MISC-related research, including: COVID-19 Exposure History; Symptoms and Signs; Comorbidities; COVID-19 Diagnoses and Treatments. The module is subdivided into core phenotypes (phenotypes incorporated from the H3Africa Standard) and COVID-19 & MISC-specific phenotypes. Read more!
Page 2 of 3