South African variant (or Omicron): who loses, who wins and who will go haywire in Italy ..

26 November 20212 years ago babelfish

Here we will talk about the South African variant, or Omicron, with information as complete as possible, with what is known. But first we tell you who is now losing, winning, and who will go haywire.

Who Loses? The bag! After Asia, Europe and the USA go haywire. Whoever spread all this news, if he was a speculator, became rich

Let's see Europe:

and USA

A good blow that sends the values of the week and the month into negative. Medicine is now driving speculation.

Who win? Pfizer, at least in words. Very fast in vaccination marketing, the American company claimed to be able to issue a new vaccine in 100 days. However, his medicine also seems to be effective against the variant, at least in theory.

Who will go to Tilt? The Italy of the Green Pass and the Super Green Pass . If, as it seems, the variant bugs the vaccine gleefully, the booster loses sense which, at the limit, for those who want and trust it, can be replaced by the new vaccine that Pfizer will develop. At this point, the Green Pass and the Super Green Pass become less credible instruments, and increasingly resemble a amine made by the government to justify, in retrospect, the obligations applied up to now.

And now some information :

Considered to be the most heavily mutated variant of the Coronavirus, so far, as it has 32 mutations in the spike protein and 50 in total. More specifically, the scientists found that there are 10 vs 2 mutations in the Delta variant in the receptor binding domain, which is the portion of the virus that first comes into contact with cells.
The Nu variant was initially identified 5 days ago in Botswana with subsequent confirmation and sequencing in South Africa with approximately 100 confirmed cases. Cases have been reported in Israel and Hong Kong and, as of this morning, in Belgium.
Sequencing data suggests that 8.1.1.529 has a different evolutionary path, but shares some common mutations with C.1.2, Beta, and Delta variants.
That said, as we warned last night, a significant number of mutations may not necessarily be a "negative" as it depends on how these mutations work, which scientists have yet to establish. If it's science's job to sow fear so Pfizer can buy an even bigger yacht, then we can say it's going to be "very, very horrible" until it proves harmless.
It is currently too early to determine whether the new variant has higher mortality than previous variants. Reported cases only began to increase in South Africa on November 19, so no impact on COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths has yet to emerge, which now seem normal;
Tulio de Oliveria, director of the Center for Outbreak Response and Innovation (CERI), in South Africa, wrote that the variant can be detected by a normal PCR test and as such it will be "easy for the world to trace." It wasn't immediately clear if this is one of those "excess false positive PCR tests," but for now it's safe to assume it is.
According to Credit Suisse, “a positive side can come from the ease of identifying this variant via qPCR testing. B.1.1.529 has a deletion within the s gene that can be easily identified by widely used PCR tests. More complex sequencing analysis is required to differentiate the delta variant. This will help monitor the spread of B.1.1.529, both in southern Africa and around the world ”.
As of Thursday, nearly 100 cases have been detected in South Africa, where it has become the dominant strain among new infections. Initial PCR test results showed that 90% of the 1,100 new cases reported Wednesday in the South African province that includes Johannesburg were caused by the new variant, according to de Oliveira.

This new variant is really worrisome at the mutational level. South Africa and Africa will need support (financially, public health, scientific) to control it so it does not spread in the world. Our poor and deprived population can not be in lockdown without financial support. pic.twitter.com/CeJIXudUIA

– Tulio de Oliveira (@Tuliodna) November 25, 2021
In neighboring Botswana, officials on Monday recorded four cases in people who had been fully vaccinated. In Hong Kong, a traveler from South Africa was found to have the variant and another case was identified in a person being quarantined in a hotel room across the hall. Israel also identified a case in a man who recently traveled to Malawi. Belgium also reported two new cases.
According to de Oliveira, this new variant, B.1.1.529 “seems to be spreading very quickly! In less than 2 weeks it now dominates all infections following a devastating Delta wave in South Africa (new blue variant, now 75% of the last genomes). and soon to reach 100%) "

Oliveria explains that the new variant is spreading very rapidly, in less than two weeks it is dominating all infections in South Africa following the domination of delta waves – writing that the variant is "now 75% of the last genomes and soon for reach 100% ".
Furthermore, the virus contains mutations that have been observed in other variants and appear to facilitate transmission.
It is too early to accurately determine the vaccine's response to the new variant. However, the significant number of variants increases the likelihood that current vaccines, designed with the original COVID-19 strain in mind, may be less effective.
Known variants include those that make it more difficult for antibodies to recognize their presence.
Laboratory tests are already underway according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa. At first glance, the institute considers a partial immune escape likely , a view that seems possible given the numerous mutations in the sequence against which the existing vaccines have been designed. The first view on this comes from the in vitro immunogenicity test or perhaps the computer modeling of the sequence. Credit Suisse estimates that initial lab data may take less than 1 week to generate, as the sequence is already known and work is already underway.
According to Pfizer, if a variant not covered by the vaccine emerges, the company plans to develop, produce a bespoke vaccine in 100 days. Just to send the third doses of millions of Italians to hell …
There have been significant advances in treating COVID since it emerged in the disease waves of 2020: the use of widely available steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Roche's Actemra, significantly improved survival outcomes.
More recently, COVID-targeted antibody therapies (LLY, REGN / Roche, AZN) have so far significantly improved outcomes against COVID variants. It will be necessary to see if their effectiveness is the same as compared to the new variant B1.1.529.
Finally, recent positive data from oral antiviral agents (PFEs, MRK / Ridgeback) may also have the potential to slow the spread of any new waves of COVID. The effectiveness of these treatments against new worrisome variants will need to be tested, but laboratory results should be expected relatively quickly. Human studies are also expected to produce results relatively quickly if conducted in areas where the prevalence of 8.1.1.529 is high.
According to Citi, the concern for Nu must be balanced with the failure of other troubling variants such as Beta (also first identified in Africa) to cross the delta.
The next two weeks will be critical for: 1) determining if Nu exceeds the delta in high-prevalence delta countries (2-3 weeks), (2) Nu-engineered pseudoviruses to determine neutralization by vaccination serum and patients previously infected (2-4 weeks) and (3) see real-world data to determine hospitalization and death rates (approximately 6-8 weeks). Implementation of travel restrictions and public health measures could delay some of the above time estimates. The new oral antivirals are expected to maintain activity against Nu, but resistance may emerge over time.

And with this there is everything you could ever want to know, without alarmism, but with great calm. Of course Speranza is really unfortunate: he wanted to impose the Super Hyper Green Pass and Nature breaks the eggs in his basket.

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The article Variant SudAfricana (or Omicron): who loses, who wins and who will go haywire in Italy .. comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/variante-sudafricana-o-nu-chi-perde-chi-vince-e-chi-andra-in-tilt-in-italia/ on Fri, 26 Nov 2021 17:58:14 +0000.