The latest focal S:N501 build is now up! It includes data from 4 Jan 2021.
We have new sequences in 501Y.V1/B.1.1.7 from Denmark, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Pakistan & the USA.
Denmark has 43 new sequences (in orange). These indicate additional introductions, as well as further expansion of the existing large local transmission cluster we saw previously (shown in zoomed divergence view).
2/12
10 new sequences from Portugal (orange) indicate additional, separate introductions.
3/12
Singapore has 5 new sequences (yellow). These indicate at least 5 separate introductions for the total of 6 sequences, with two identical sequences likely being 1 introduction.
4/12
5 new sequences from the US, from Florida & California (older sequences crossed through).
Zooming in (divergence view) on the California cluster, the relationship between these samples is difficult to infer from phylogenies alone.
5/12
3 new sequences from Spain (orange) indicate 2 more introductions, with the 3rd new sequence linking to the first sequence (green).
6/12
2 new sequences in Germany & 1 new sequence in Australia indicate separate introductions
7/12
1 new sequences in Italy represents another separate introduction (little hard to see in this picture), and 1 new sequence from France (yellow) indicates an additional introduction.
8/12
Additionally, we have the first sequences that fall in 501Y.V1 from Brazil (1), Jamaica (1), Luxembourg (1), & Pakistan (2).
Though hard to see on the larger tree, the 2 Pakistan sequences sit apart on the phylogeny, & thus indicate separate introductions.
9/12
The S:N501 'reduced UK' build is also updated. *Please remember not to use this build to look at connections between countries!* Use it only alongside the larger, complete S:N501 build.
Finally, the country plots have also been updated. As countries are preferentially sequencing 501Y.V1 samples at the moment, the 'hot pink' sections *do not* represent true frequencies of the variant in countries!
We can see the current screening process in action in the Swiss chart - variants with the 69/70 deletion are being preferentially sampled. Sequences from the 439K cluster also have that deletion - they're being picked up in the search to find 501Y.V1! 🙃
12/12
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
There are 42 new non-UK sequences in 501Y.V1 from the Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Brazil, and the first sequence from 501Y.V1 in Oman.
Mutations at nucleotide 23012 causes changes in the amino-acid (AA) at position 484 in Spike. We can see here it changes from E (green) to Q (yellow), K (blue), & R (red).
2/8
Changes at position 484 are found most prominently in the 501Y.V2 variant (originating in South Africa), ID by @Tuliodna@rjlessells & team
as well as in a cluster of sequences primarily in Brazil, ID by @atrvlncc & team
European countries have likely bought time by stopping/restricting UK flights to reduce 501Y.V1 (B.1.1.7) import. Vaccine rollouts are progressing, & spring is around the corner.
But what do the next few months have in store? What should we be preparing for? 🗓️🤔 #SARSCoV2
1/24
First, some good news: The fact we have a vaccine 💉 is fantastic🎉, & it will make a difference - but we likely won't have enough people vaccinated to really impact transmission levels in the next few months. We must hold fast to other methods until more are vaccinated.😷
2/24
More good news: Last spring & summer brought reductions in cases: the virus does seem seasonal.
This means spring🌸& summer🌞2021 should help reduce transmission📉, giving us a great window to scale-up vaccination before autumn🍂 & hopefully a break in strict restrictions.
To kick off 2021, here's an update on:
- S:N501 variants (501Y.V1/V2) with data from 31 Dec 2020
- 69/70del variants
- 20A.EU1 variant (most prevalent variant in Europe)
(Here are some fireworks that look a bit like phylogenies! 🎆)
1/23
The latest sequences from 31 Dec show new sequences in the S:N501Y.V1 variant (originating from SE England) from Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Canada, the USA, Germany, Switzerland, & India.
There is 1 sequence now from Sweden, 2 from Norway, & 2 from Finland. The 2 Finnish sequences & 2 Norwegian sequences are separated on the tree, indicating 2 separate introductions in each country.
2/8
There are 3 sequences from South Korea clustering together. Zooming in (& in divergence view) we can see they are closely related, and likely indicate 1 introduction.
The latest S:N501 focal build is now up, with data from 28th Dec:
We can see new sequences from Italy, Israel, Spain, France, & Ireland in the SE England variant (501Y.V1) & Switzerland in the South African variant (501Y.V2).