New Covid strain in the UK: What we know in 500 words

‘European countries ban UK passengers in bid to contain new mutation, which is 70 percent more infectious and ripping through London...

‘Vaccines should still be effective against it and the new strain is not believed to be any more deadly, but people are increasingly worried because this mutation appears to be 70 percent more infectious. The new variant, which has been named VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in the country’s southeast, in the capital London or the county of Kent.

‘Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said the agency notified the government on December 18 when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain. The UK submitted its findings to the World Health Organization the same day.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Dec 20, 2020)

What the data say about asymptomatic Covid infections

‘Research early in the pandemic suggested that the rate of asymptomatic infections could be as high as 81%. But a meta-analysis published last month1, which included 13 studies involving 21,708 people, calculated the rate of asymptomatic presentation to be 17%...Byambasuren’s review also found that asymptomatic individuals were 42% less likely to transmit the virus than symptomatic people.’

Read here (Nature, Nov 20, 2020)

Covid-19 virus survives on skin five times longer than flu virus: Study

‘The Covid-19 virus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours by comparison, said the study published this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 18, 2020)

Early tests mean Covid-19 patients detected at ‘more infectious’ phase: Noor Hisham

‘Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said swift action to detect Covid-19 cases may have led to patients being detected at an earlier, highly infectious phase of the disease. However, he does not rule out the possibility that the high level of infectivity may be due to the virus’ D614G mutation. He said this in response to a question from the media asking why patients’ samples from the current third wave have a lower cycle threshold value (Ct) when tested, compared to samples from the first two waves of the outbreak in Malaysia.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Oct 16, 2020)

Coronavirus may stay for weeks on banknotes and touchscreens

‘The new coronavirus may remain infectious for weeks on banknotes, glass and other common surfaces, according to research by Australia’s top biosecurity laboratory that highlights risks from paper currency, touchscreen devices and grab handles and rails.

‘Scientists at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness showed SARS-CoV-2 is “extremely robust,” surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes at room temperature, or 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). That compares with 17 days survival for the flu virus.’

Read here (Bloomberg, Oct 11, 2020)

Highly contagious Covid-19 variant detected in two clusters

‘Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged greater caution after a highly contagious variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 had been confirmed in two clusters in Malaysia.

‘In a Facebook post just past midnight this morning, the Institute of Medical Research had just identified the virus carrying the D614G mutation in samples collected from three cases from the Sivagangga cluster, and one case in the Bukit Tiram cluster...

“It has been found to be ten times more likely to infect other individuals, and could spread easily if spread by ‘superspreaders’,” Noor Hisham said.

‘He also voiced concern that experimental vaccines currently in development may not be able to tackle the D614G variant of the virus because it is still relatively new.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, August 16, 2020)