Coronavirus variants

Variants of Sars-CoV-2
 * VOC 202012/01, also known as lineage B.1.1.7, 20I/501Y.V1 and popularly as UK coronavirus variant and Alpha variant R0 = 4.0
 * Detection of E484K mutation in B.1.1.7 VOC 202012/01
 * 501Y.V2 variant, also known as 20H/501Y.V2 (formerly 20C/501Y.V2), B.1.351 lineage, South African variant or Beta variant
 * 501Y.V3 variant. In Brazil, a variant of Sars-CoV-2 (known as P.1) emerged that was first was identified in four travelers from Brazil, who were tested during routine screening at Haneda airport outside Tokyo, Japan. or Gamma variant.
 * Kent variant with E484K mutation
 * Indian variant B.1.617
 * Variant B.1.617.1 aka Kappa variant
 * Variant B.1.617.2 aka Delta variant, R0 = 4.76
 * US B.1.427.9 aka Epsilon variant
 * Colombian B.1.621 aka Mu variant
 * yet another South-African variant, B.1.1.529 aka the Nu variant renamed Omicron variant
 * Classification
 * variant of interest
 * variant of concern
 * variant of variant of high consequence

External

 * Gov.uk, Investigation of novel Sars-CoV-2 variant: Variant of Concern 202012/01
 * CDC.gov, Sars-CoV-2 variant classifications and definitions
 * CDC.gov, Variant proportions

News

 * 30 Nov 2021, Economist.com, BioNTech’s boss, Ugur Sahin, remains sanguine about Omicron, Its vaccine may need a tweak, but most important is to speed up booster shots.
 * 30 Nov 2021, NPR.org, African leaders condemn travel restrictions as omicron variant spreads globally, The bans may deter countries, especially those in lower-resource parts of the world, from reporting new strains of the coronavirus in the future, says Mia Malan, editor-in-chief of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, a media outlet based in Johannesburg.
 * 29 Nov 2021, Economist.com, Omicron is starting to spread around the world, A lack of genomic sequencing means many cases are likely to have gone undetected.In general they are troubling if mutations in their genetic code result in any one of four changes in behaviour: 1) a rise in transmissibility; 2) a weaker immune response from vaccines (and antibodies acquired by infection, too); 3) a way of evading detection by tests; 4) or causing more severe illness.South Africa has complained that it is being unfairly punished for its diligence in sequencing the disease, which might create a disincentive for other countries to invest in genomic sequencing.
 * 28 Nov 2021, Economist.com, Omicron and on - What to do about covid-19’s threatening new variant, South Africa’s scientists have bought the world time on Omicron. It should use it
 * 26 Nov 2021, Economist.com, Mutant strain - Countries are scrambling to stop a new covid variant, How big a threat is Omicron?
 * 15 Sep 2021, (fr) FranceInfo, Variants Alpha, Delta, Mu… L'apparition récurrente de nouvelles souches du virus du Covid-19 est-elle inquiétante ?
 * 28 Aug 2021, Politico.eu, Coronavirus Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalization: Study, Analysis focused on people who had not been vaccinated.
 * 26 Aug 2021, CDC.gov, Delta variant: what we know about the science, The Delta variant is more than 2x as contagious as previous variants. Some data suggest the Delta variant might cause more severe illness than previous strains in unvaccinated persons. Although breakthrough infections happen much less often than infections in unvaccinated people, individuals infected with the Delta variant, including fully vaccinated people with symptomatic breakthrough infections, can transmit it to others. CDC is continuing to assess data on whether fully vaccinated people with asymptomatic breakthrough infections can transmit. The greatest risk of transmission is among unvaccinated people who are much more likely to contract and, therefore, transmit the virus. 
 * 11 Aug 2021, Pro.politico.eu, Living with the Delta coronavirus variant … and beyond?, The highly infectious Delta variant may have killed the dream of herd immunity.“Anyone still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus,” Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group and one of the developers of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine said.
 * 06 Aug 2021, Reuters.com, Early signs covid-19 vaccines may not stop Delta transmission, England says
 * 28 Jul 2021, Politico.eu, Covid-19 in Europe: Here we go again, With the Delta variant spreading across the Continent, now is the time to act if we want to head off the next wave of infections.
 * 23 Jul 2021, Politico.eu, Most vaccines offer protection against Delta variant with just 1 dose: Study, The study compared the efficacy of the BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs against several variants of concern.
 * 08 Jul 2021, (fr) LesEchos.fr, Le variant Delta rebat les cartes de la pandémie, Depuis deux mois, l'épidémie est repartie à la hausse dans une quinzaine de pays. Même si les services d'urgences ne sont débordés que là où la population est peu vaccinée, l'Europe s'inquiète.
 * 03 Jul 2021, Economist.com, The unvaccinated are at risk as evolution accelerates the covid-19 pandemic, Research is unravelling the virus’s deep secrets
 * 28 Jun 2021, CDC.gov, About variants of the virus that causes covid-19​​
 * 24 Jun 2021, EuroNews.com, Delta variant to account for 90% of new covid-19 cases in Europe by late August, warns EU agency
 * 18 Jun 2021, BrusselsTimes.com, Delta variant ‘could become dominant’ in Belgium, Van Gucht warns, The Delta variant of the coronavirus, previously known as the Indian variant, could become a dominant strain in Belgium in the coming weeks, virologist Steven Van Gucht warned during a Crisis Centre press conference on Friday. The strain now accounts for 6.1% of all new cases in Belgium, in comparison with 3.9% last week.
 * 14 Jun 2021, Politico.eu, Delta coronavirus variant doubles risk of hospitalization: Scottish study, The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine provided 79 percent protection against infection from the Delta variant, compared with 92 percent against the Alpha variant.
 * 11 Jun 2021, TheEconomist.com, Why coronavirus variants are named using the Greek alphabet, It is simpler, and less contentious, than the technical or colloquial appellations
 * 01 Jun 2021, Reuters.com, Is it all Greek to you? Coronavirus variants get new names
 * 01 Jun 2021 (fr) FranceInfo.tv, Covid-19 : l'OMS renomme les variants avec des noms de lettres grecques, L'objectif est de donner aux variants des noms "faciles à prononcer et à retenir", mais aussi d'éviter de "stigmatiser" les pays où ils ont été identifiés, explique l'Organisation mondiale de la santé.
 * 26 May 2021, Politico.eu, What we know so far about the Indian coronavirus variant in the UK, Researchers are working to gauge how transmissable the new variant is, and how effective vaccines are against it.
 * 12 May 2021, Politico.eu, EU regulator ‘confident’ vaccines work against Indian coronavirus variant, The EMA also expects the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs to be effective
 * 22 Apr 2021 (fr) FranceInfo.tv, Variant du Covid-19 détecté en Inde : 20 étudiants testés positifs en Belgique, après être passés par l'aéroport de Roissy, Ils ont été placés en quarantaine dans les villes flamandes d'Alost et de Louvain, où ils étaient arrivés à la mi-avril pour suivre une formation en soins infirmiers.
 * 17 Apr 2021, ITV.com, Indian Covid variant could ‘scupper’ roadmap out of lockdown, scientist warns
 * 13 Apr 2021, LiveScience.com, UK coronavirus variant not more deadly, just spreads more easily, studies find, Two new studies find that the U.K. variant does not appear to cause more severe illness or death