Thread by @DrEricDing

BREAKING. UK 🇬🇧 imposes Africa travel restrictions over #B11529 variant fears. This variant is the most alarming variant found since #DeltaVariant discovery. Scientists worldwide are worried. B11529 (S-gene dropout) signals spiking across South Africa. 🧵 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-594242…

2) In KZN region… #B11529 is now becoming dominant over the region including displacing #Delta. See thread 🧵 below 👇

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1463925612402429952

3) this #B11529 variant has 32 spike mutations — over 2x more than #DeltaVariant had in its spike. Many scientists say B11529 has an “awful spike profile” based on its mutations and locations.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1463765169830572039

4) one of the bad bad bad mutations in Delta was at 681 amino acid position of the furin cleavage site. #B11529 has another mutation there too. Another reason to worry.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1463929656592281600

5) The #B11529 dominant graph is from Kwazulu Natal region, where “almost all recent samples” are now #B11529 — the blue dot 🔵— it’s now the major variant there.

6) total #COVID19 positivity surging in the local area with #B11529 — surging from 1% positivity to 30% positivity in just 2 weeks!

7) the spike in S-gene (#B11529) cases yesterday in South Africa… it was across almost **all provinces** of 🇿🇦! That’s a bad bad sign it’s now quickly everywhere there. 👀

8) ⚠️ WORST OF BOTH — #B11529 has mutations seen in other variants that are associated with BOTH 📌higher transmissibility AND 📌immune escape.

9) UK’s travel restrictions make sense. Look at Hong Kong’s hotel quarantine. It barely contained #B11529 after several negative PCR tests that then turned positive.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1463998740340121601

10) seriously, read this Hong Kong story carefully…. The traveler from South Africa 🇿🇦 actually connected via Doha via @qatarairways! How long was the connection and the cross infection in Qatar???

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1463998740340121601

11) Another model by @JPWeiland says the #NuVariant #B11529 could have a huge 500% competitive advantage over the original strain. This would be cataclysmically bad —let’s wait to confirm further, but let’s be precautions. Precautionary principle is key right now! #COVID19

12) I’ll be sending more updates and alerts in the coming days and weeks. If you have found my thread 🧵 helpful… then subscribe below. Thank you.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1464138370368561200?s=21