Episode Details

New descendant of the Delta variant, Delta, predominant, 99.8% of sequenced cases in England As of 11 October 2021 Delta, predominant variant, 99.8% of sequenced cases in England Delta sublineage newly designated as AY.4.2 There are also small numbers of new cases of Delta with E484K and Delta with E484Q https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-sars-cov-2-variants-technical-briefings https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1025827/Technical_Briefing_25.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/19/fears-grow-in-england-over-rise-of-new-covid-delta-variant https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/16463658/new-delta-subvariant-uk-more-infectious/ https://www.italy24news.com/News/164491.html https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/delta-ay-sub-variant-which-requires-urgent-research-found-in-these-us-states/ar-AAPFk3S https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58965650 UK genetic sequencing, 6%, now 8% or more UK, over a million sequences performed so far On an increasing trajectory US, Denmark, Canada US, 3 cases sequenced, no clusters reported North Carolina, California, DC 10 cases in Israel, all from US UK, 14,247 sequenced as of Monday, October 18th AY.4.2, Delta Plus, Spike protein change (AY means it is a delta subtype) (AY.4 is already 80% in the UK) Mutations - Y145H and A222V Found in various lineages since the beginning of the pandemic Will this give the virus additional powers? Vaccine escape? Slight effect on the binding between antibodies and the virus Not yet a variant of concern or variant under investigation WHO, next few days, nu variant Original Delta, classified as VOC, UK May 2021 July 2021 experts identified AY.4.2. Sublineage of Delta, increasing slowly since then Prof Francois Balloux, University College London, Genetics Institute It is potentially a marginally more infectious strain. It's nothing compared with what we saw with Alpha and Delta, which were something like 50 to 60 percent more transmissible. So we are talking about something quite subtle here and that is currently under investigation. At this stage I would say wait and see, don't panic. it is not something absolutely disastrous like we saw previously Dr Jeffrey Barrett, Covid-19 Genomics Initiative, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, and Prof Francois Balloux AY.4.2 could be 10-15% more transmissible than the original Delta variant. Unlikely to be fuelling current UK increases (That’s mostly school age and to their parents)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices