NGS-SA worked hard to increase sequencing in South Africa. We know now that the explosive #COVID19 third wave is dominatedd by the Delta variant.
In this tweet thread, we present recent data (sampled up to 24 June in many provinces in SA, including Gauteng) - Tweet 1/8
This graph shows the distribution of the variants over time in the different provinces. 2/8
The third wave in Gauteng was caused by the Delta variant, thanks to @nicd_sa and @krisp_news who worked day and night on the weekend to increase genomics surveillance in Gauteng.
Graph shows Black line = Daily cases (7-day average), Yellow = Beta, Green = Delta. Tweet 3/8
The Delta Variant was first identified as dominating the start of the third wave in KwaZulu-Natal, here we present recent data, sampled up to 24 June 2021, showing how the expansion of the Delta in KZN is linked to increase in daily cases. 4/8
The expansion of Delta is also seen in the Western Cape with very recent data produced by @UCT@StellenboschUni and NHLS. 5/8
We also found that Delta is also causing the expansion in the Eastern Cape (left) and Limpopo (right) and we the Network for Genomics Surveillance is busy expanding sampling around the country. 6/8
Over 1,500 genomes produced in the last two months and in the last week alone, the Delta genomes from SA deposited in @GISAID grow from 29 to 430, with continuous updates. 7/8
A Novel and Expanding SARS-CoV-2 Variant, B.1.1.318, dominates infections in Mauritius medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Mauritius is an example of controlling #COVID19 in Africa, with 1,700 infections and only 18 deaths. However, one variant seems to have caused the great majority of all of the infections
Mauritius has stopped dozens of introductions of the Beta (501Y.V2/B.1.351) and Alpha (B.1.1.7) but the B.1.1.318, which has the 484K mutation (common to Beta) and the 681H mutation (common to Alpha) has caused all local transmitted cases.
In this online pre-print, we present a case of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection with accelerated intra-host evolution in a patient with advanced HIV and antiretroviral treatment failure in South Africa.
SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR was positive for 216 days (27 weeks). At all time-points between day 0 and day 216 there was a mean Ct ranging from 16.4 to 31.6. The patient had HIV drug resistance and was not responding to therapy.
Over 30 mutations accumulated over time, many of them changing aminoacids that are common of variants of concern.
A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
By 5 May 2021, 14,504 SARS-CoV-2 genomes had been submitted to the GISAID database from 38 African countries and two overseas territories (Mayotte and Réunion) (Fig. 1A). Overall, this corresponds to approximately one sequence per ~300 reported cases.
Overall, the number of sequences correlates closely with the number of reported cases per country. lmost half of the sequences were from South Africa, consistent with it being responsible for almost half of the reported cases in Africa.
Confirmed Detection of eight (8) more genomes B.1.617.2 and two (2) community transmission of B.1.1.7 in South Africa, By Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA), 13 May 2021
The eight new cases of B.1.617.2 variant have been detected from KwaZulu-Natal province. More specifically, these were cases in crew members of a commercial vessel that arrived in Durban Port from India.
The cases were isolated on the vessel, and other crew members have been quarantined according to national COVID-19 case management guidelines. The individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 did not disembark in South Africa, with exception of one that was admitted to hospital
Confirmed Detection of B.1.617.2 and B.1.1.7 in South Africa by NGS-SA
This report was sent to our Health Minister @DrZweliMkhize yesterday.
In this Twitter thread, we highlight the details and repercussion of the discovery to South Africa
In response to the continued emergence and spread of new variants around the world, the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) recently intensified the monitoring of confirmed COVID-19 cases in recent arrivals to the country.
We can now confirm that today we detected four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant. The four cases have been detected from Gauteng (n=2) and KwaZulu-Natal (n=2) provinces and all have a history of recent arrivals from India.
First genomic surveillance results from a traveler to India in South Africa. A patient at Tygerberg Hospital who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 about 3 days after traveling to SA from India. This first genome is a 501Y.V2 (B.1.351) and not the B.1.617 described in India.
The 501Y.V2 (B.1.351) is the 3rd most common variant in India after the B.1.617 and the B.1.1.7. Below a graph from @trvrb showing the spread of the variants in India.
The 501Y.V2 (B.1.351) was firstly identified in South Africa by the network for genomic surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA). It shows how variants can be introduced back and forth between countries.