501.V2 variant

The new variant was uncovered by whole genome sequencing. Several genomic sequences from this lineage were submitted to the GISAID sequence database.[6]

Researchers and officials reported that the prevalence of the variant was higher among young people with no underlying health conditions, and more frequently causes serious illness in such cases than other variants.[7][8] The South African health department also indicated that the variant may be driving the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, as the variant spreads faster than other earlier variants of the virus.[5][7]

Scientists noted that the variant is able to attach more easily to human cells because of three mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike glycoprotein of the virus: N501Y[5][9] (a change from asparagine (N) to tyrosine (Y)[10] in amino-acid position 501), K417N, and E484K.[11][12] Two of these mutations, E484K and N501Y, are within the receptor-binding motif (RBM) of the receptor-binding domain (RBD).[13][14]

The N501Y mutation has also been detected in the United Kingdom.[5][15] Two mutations found in 501.V2, E484K and K417N, are not found in Variant of Concern 202012/01. Also, 501.V2 does not have the 69-70del mutation found in the other variant.[9][16]

On 23 December, UK health minister Matt Hancock announced that two people who had travelled from South Africa to the UK were infected with 501.V2.[16][17] On 28 December, the variant had been detected in two people in Switzerland[18] and in one in Finland.[19] On 29 December, the strain had been detected in a visitor from South Africa to Japan,[20] and in one overseas traveller to Queensland, Australia.[21] On 30 December the variant was detected in Zambia.[22] On 31 December it was also detected in France, in a passenger returning from South Africa.[23] On 2 January 2021, the first case of this variant was detected in South Korea.[24] Austria reported their first case of this variant, along with four cases of the UK variant on 4 January.[25] The Republic of Botswana also detected their first case on 4 January.[26] The People's Republic of China reported the first case of this variant in southern Guangdong province on 6 January.[27]

On 8 January 2021, the Republic of Ireland reported the detection of 3 cases, all linked to travel from South Africa.[28] On the same day a case of reinfection with the new variant by a woman who had had COVID-19 was reported from Brazil, the first such reinfection reported in the world.[29] Canada reported the first case of this variant in Alberta on 9 January,[30] and Israel reported four cases, all of which were imported in people travelling from South Africa.[31] New Zealand reported the first case of this variant on 10 January.[32][33] On 12 January, Germany reported the detection of the mutation in six people from three different households.[34] The same day, it was reported that the United Kingdom had a total of 29 cases, two of which were previously reported.[35] The following day, Belgium reported the first case in a person from West Flanders with no travel history,[36] Israel reported four further cases,[37] and Taiwan reported the first case in a Swazi man in his 30s who had tested positive for COVID-19 on 1 January.[38]

On 14 January, Germany detected a further case[39] and the following day, Canada reported a second case of the mutation which was detected in the Canadian province of British Columbia.[40] A further case was reported in Germany the same day.[41] Denmark reported the first case on 16 January as Israel discovered a further four cases.[42][43] On 17 January, Israel reported another four cases bringing their total number of cases of this variant to 20.[44] Two further cases were reported in The Netherlands on 18 January bringing the country's total to three.[45] On 23 January, Panama detected its first case of the strain in a person from Zimbabwe, who had travelled from South Africa.[46] Also on 23 January, Belgium reported at least 15 cases of the variant in Ostend.[47] On 26 January, the Republic of Ireland reported the detection of 6 further cases.[48] The United States reported its first cases of the variant on 28 January 2021, in the state of South Carolina.[49]On 27 January, Israel reported 3 more cases which were the first cases of the variant from samples that were collected in the community randomly, without knowing the source of infection.[50] On 31 January, Israel reported its first case of reinfection with the new variant by a man who returned from Turkey. [51]

On 1 February 2021, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health and Social Care reported the random detection of 11 cases of the variant where there was no connection to international travel.[52] The same day, the Canadian province of Ontario reported the first case of the variant in the Peel Region, with a similar absence of travel history and no contact with anyone who had recently been abroad.[53]

On 4 January 2021 UK newspaper The Telegraph reported that Oxford immunologist Sir John Bell believed there was "a big question mark" over the new South African variant's potential resistance to COVID-19 vaccines, raising fears that vaccines might not work as effectively on that variant strain.[54] The same day, professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi commented to CBS News that "it's not a given" that the new 501.V2 variant would be able to evade the vaccines, but that it should be considered that they "might not have the full efficacy".[55] The additional mutations to the spike protein in variant 501.V2 were raised as a concerning factor by Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, in that they "may make the virus less susceptible to the immune response triggered by the vaccines".[56] Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, also noted that the variant's multiple spike mutations "could lead to some escape from immune protection".[56]

On 7 January 2021, it was reported that Pfizer researchers had found the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in tests involving 20 blood assays to be capable of affording protection against one of the 501.V2 variant mutations (N501Y, shared with variant B1.1.7). Further investigation was to be undertaken to ascertain the level of protection involved.[57]

• PANGO lineages: New Variant Report - Report on global distribution of lineage B.1.351
• COG-UK Report on SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutations of interest in the UK