Thread by @DrEricDing

⚠️TANZANIA VARIANT—One of the most preeminent Harvard virology professors is trying to warn—Tanzanian variant branched off Wuhan 1.0 strain but acquired all the bad mutations of #B117 & #B1351 independently—convergent evolution. By @WmHaseltine. #COVID19
forbes.com/sites/williamh…

2) “This is another variant we have to be especially vigilant towards. It may be as infectious and immune evasive as the widespread B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants, in addition to potential reinfection capabilities, as they carry similar mutations”

3) “It also represents why we need more comprehensive variant surveillance around the world. Were this not detected in the Angolan airport, it may have caused havoc in the country and elsewhere. 
We do not yet know exactly how dangerous the Tanzanian variant may be.

4) “That is partly due to the new total blackout of information during the pandemic from that country. Official data would have that no infections have occurred in Tanzania since May 2020, which is clearly not the case.

5) “The appearance of a new variant of interest & possibly of concern detected in travelers from that country highlights the need for transparency, both for control of Covid-19 within the country and for the dangers viruses emanating from Tanzania may pose for rest of the world.”

6) I’ll let the title speak for itself in this other piece by @WmHaseltine. forbes.com/sites/williamh…

7) Back to Tanzania variant—“Up until the discovery of the new variant, all other variants of interest or concern derive from a common ancestral virus, the B.1 strain that first made its appearance in early 2020. This is not so for the newly described variant...”

8) “It evolved from an entirely different source, the A lineage, a finding that substantially expands our understanding of the repertoire of mutants we must be prepared to contend with in the months and years ahead.”

9) “The Tanzanian variant (which is how I will denote it as it lacks official designation) teaches us that variants of interest and concern may lack all three defining mutations of the B.1 strain.

10) “Nonetheless, the new variant is of interest and of possible concern as it carries a number of mutations in the spike protein characteristic of other bonafide variants of concern from the B.1 lineage.

11) “Of the 13 mutations that distinguish the spike protein of the Tanzanian variant from the original Wuhan strain, eight are found in the B.1 family of variants. This is a remarkable illustration of convergent evolution.”

12) “No one B.1 variant carries all these mutations, but each must confer some selective advantage to the A lineage variant.”

Translation: Tanzania variant (from A lineage) somehow has converged somehow with the bad mutations from B. Convergent evolution usually bad.

13) that all said, I want to leave this positive note. Vaccines work overall. And faster and sooner we all get them, we can stop more of these tricky variants from appearing! I am as pro vaccination as anyone you’ll find. @PeterHotez knows this. But vaccinating fast is critical.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1384880091277189122

14) Sidenote— how did Tanzania evolve a nasty little variant? Because Tanzania had a #COVID19 denial President. No data on any Covid left Tanzania last year. ZERO data. A large outbreak is suspected. Their Covid denial President? Dead. bbc.com/news/world-afr…