Lineage B.1.617

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Total number of B.1.617 sequences by country as of 21 April 2021[1]
Legend:
  100+ confirmed sequences
  2–99 confirmed sequences
  1 confirmed sequence
  None or no data available
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Lineage B.1.617, also known as VUI (Variant Under Investigation)-21APR-01,[2] is one of the known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.[3] It was first identified in India on 5 October 2020[4] and is a "double mutation" variant.[1][5][6] "Double mutation" refers to B.1.617's mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein's[7] coding sequence at E484Q and L452R.[8] However, infectious disease scientist Kristian Andersen told reporters at NPR that "SARS-CoV-2 mutates all the time. So there are many double mutants all over the place. The variant in India really shouldn't be called that."[9]

Mutations[edit]

The B.1.617 genome has 13 mutations which produce alterations in its coding.[10] Three of them, all of which are in the virus's spike protein code, are of great concern:

  • E484Q. The mutation at position 484, a glutamic acid-to-glutamine substitution, confers the variant stronger binding potential to hACE2 (the human ACE2 receptor), as well as better ability to evade hosts' immune systems, to B.1.617 in comparison to other variants.[8][verification needed]
  • L452R. The mutation at position 452, a leucine-to-arginine substitution, confers stronger affinity of the spike protein for the ACE2 receptor and decreased recognition capability of the immune system.[8][11] These mutations, when taken individually, are not unique to the variant; rather, their simultaneous occurrence is.[8][5]
  • P681R. This is a mutation at position 681, a proline-to-arginine substitution, which, according to William A. Haseltine, may boost cell-level infectivity of the variant "by facilitating cleavage of the S precursor protein to the active S1/S2 configuration".[12]

There are three sublineages of B.1.617, which have some differences in their exact mutations. Notably, B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3 have the E484Q mutation, but B.1.617.2 does not.[13]

Characteristics[edit]

Emerging research suggests the variant may be more transmissible than previously evolved ones.[14] Whether the effectiveness of currently-deployed vaccines is affected remains under investigation.[15][16][17]

Surveillance data from the Indian government's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) shows that around 32% of patients, both hospitalised and outside hospitals, were aged below 30 in the second wave compared to 31% during the first wave. Among people aged 30-40, the 20-39 bracket increased to 25.5% from 23.7% earlier. The data also showed a higher proportion of asymptomatic patients were admitted during the second wave, with more complaints of breathlessness.[18]

Vaccine efficacy[edit]

ICMR found that convalescent sera of the COVID-19 cases and recipients of Bharat Biotech's BBV152 (Covaxin) were able to neutralize VUI B.1.617 although with a lower efficacy.[19]

Anurag Agrawal, the Director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), said the study on effectiveness of the available vaccines on the B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV2 suggests that post vaccination, the infections are milder. He tweeted: 

Initial positive neutralization studies of B.1.617, with both post-Covaxin or Covishield sera, are correlatable with milder disease during post-vaccination breakthrough infections. This is a positive while we get quantitative data for better understanding of infection protection.[20]

Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Advisor to the President of US, has also expressed his confidence regarding the preliminary results. In an interview he said:

This is something where we're still gaining data on a daily basis. But the most recent data, was looking at convalescent Sera of COVID-19 cases and people who received the vaccine used in India, the Covaxin. It was found to neutralise the 617 variants[21]

Another study by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad found Covishield vaccinated sera offers protection against the B.1.617 variant. Rakesh Mishra, the Director of CCMB, said in a tweet:

Very preliminary but encouraging result: #Covishield protects against #B1617. Early results using in vitro neutralization assay show that both convalescent (prior infection) sera and Covishield vaccinated sera offer protection against the B.1.617 variant, aka #DoubleMutant[22]

First detection and international spread[edit]

Despite its name, B.1.617.3 was the first sublineage of this variant to be detected, in October 2020 in India. This sublineage has remained relatively uncommon compared to the two other sublineages, B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2, which both were first detected in December 2020.[13] There were few known cases of B.1.617 (of all sublineages) until early February 2021 when there was a significant increase.[1]

In other countries, the first cases of the variant were detected in late February 2021, including the United Kingdom on 22 February, the United States on 23 February and Singapore on 26 February.[1][4][23]

Canada's first confirmed case of the variant was identified in Quebec on 21 April 2021, and later 39 cases of the variant were identified in British Columbia the same day.[24] Alberta reported a single case of the variant 22 April 2021.[25]

International reactions[edit]

In an effort to stem the transmission of B.1.617 to the UK, on 19 April Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock, MP announced the addition of India to the UK's "red list" beginning at 4pm BST/11am EST on 23 April 2021.[26] British or Irish passport holders, or people with UK residence rights, will be allowed to travel inward to the UK but must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.[27]

The United States CDC has issued warnings to Americans traveling to and from India.[28]

UAE and Oman suspended all flights from India from April 24, 2021 although certain categories were exempted in UAE.[29][30] As a precautionary measure, Singapore mandated that all travelers arriving from India be isolated for 21 days.[31] After the rise in cases from the second wave, at least 14 countries imposed travel bans and restrictions on passengers from India.[32]

Statistics[edit]

By 20 April 2021, 800 sequences of the variant had been detected in 21 countries.[1] Countries with detections are:

Cases by country (As of 28 April 2021)
Country Confirmed cases
gisaid.org[23] 28 April 		Confirmed cases
cov-lineages.org[1] 28 April 		Cases (other sources) First detection
 India 791 739 5 October 2020
 United Kingdom 430 352 22 February 2021
 USA 134 115 23 February 2021
 Singapore 85 83 26 February 2021
 Canada 1 - 77[24][33][34] April 2021
 Fiji - - 42[35] 28 April 2021
 Australia 37 30 16 March 2021
 Denmark - - 29[36][37] March 2021
 Bahrain 22 22 5 April 2021
 Germany 15 15 1 March 2021
 New Zealand 11 11 9 March 2021
 Israel - - 41[38][39] 16 April 2021
 Ireland 8 8 -
 South Korea 5 5 -
 Portugal 5 5 -
 Turkey - - 5[40] 28 April 2021
 Belgium 4 4 -
  Switzerland 6 3 -
 Greece 3 2 -
 Italy 2 1 -
 Sint Maarten 2 - -
 The Netherlands 2 2 -
 Guadeloupe 2 2 -
 Cambodia 1 1 -
 Norway - - 1[41] 16 April 2021
World (25 countries) Total: 1566 Total: 1400
incl. B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3		 195 Total as of 28 April 2021.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "PANGO lineages Lineage B.1.617". cov-lineages.org. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Variants: distribution of cases data". GOV.UK. Public Health England. This article contains OGL licensed text This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence v3.0:
  3. ^ "Confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants identified in UK". www.gov.uk. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Expert reaction to cases of variant B.1.617 (the 'Indian variant') being investigated in the UK". Science Media Centre. Science Media Centre. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b Koshy, Jacob (8 April 2021). "Coronavirus | Indian 'double mutant' strain named B.1.617". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 April 2021. Though these mutations have individually been found in several other coronavirus variants, the presence of both these mutations together have been first found in some coronavirus genomes from India.
  6. ^ Cuff, Madeleine (19 April 2021). "Indian variant: Cases of new 'double mutation' Covid strain thought to be spreading in UK". i. London. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  7. ^ Shang, Jian; Yushun, Wan; Lou, Chuming; Ye, Gang; Geng, Qibin; Auerbach, Ashley; Fang, Li (2020). "Cell entry mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (21): 11727–11734. doi:10.1073/pnas.2003138117.
  8. ^ a b c d Starr, Tyler N.; Greaney, Allison J.; Dingens, Adam S.; Bloom, Jesse D. (April 2021). "Complete map of SARS-CoV-2 RBD mutations that escape the monoclonal antibody LY-CoV555 and its cocktail with LY-CoV016". Cell Reports Medicine: 100255. doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100255.
  9. ^ "People Are Talking About A 'Double Mutant' Variant In India. What Does That Mean?". NPR.org. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Expert reaction to cases of variant B.1.617 (the 'Indian variant') being investigated in the UK | Science Media Centre". Science Media Centre. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  11. ^ Zhang, Wenjuan; Davis, Brian D.; Chen, Stephanie S.; Sincuir Martinez, Jorge M.; Plummer, Jasmine T.; Vail, Eric (6 April 2021). "Emergence of a Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Southern California". JAMA. 325 (13): 1324. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.1612.
  12. ^ Haseltine, William. "An Indian SARS-CoV-2 Variant Lands In California. More Danger Ahead?". Forbes. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 27 April 2021". World Health Organization. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  14. ^ Deng, Xianding; Garcia-Knight, Miguel A.; Khalid, Mir M.; Servellita, Venice; Wang, Candace; Morris, Mary Kate; Sotomayor-González, Alicia; Glasner, Dustin R.; Reyes, Kevin R.; Gliwa, Amelia S.; Reddy, Nikitha P.; Martin, Claudia Sanchez San; Federman, Scot; Cheng, Jing; Balcerek, Joanna; Taylor, Jordan; Streithorst, Jessica A.; Miller, Steve; Sreekumar, Bharath; Chen, Pei-Yi; Schulze-Gahmen, Ursula; Taha, Taha Y.; Hayashi, Jennifer; Simoneau, Camille R.; Kumar, G. Renuka; McMahon, Sarah; Lidsky, Peter V.; Xiao, Yinghong; Hemarajata, Peera; Green, Nicole M.; Espinosa, Alex; Kath, Chantha; Haw, Monica; Bell, John; Hacker, Jill K.; Hanson, Carl; Wadford, Debra A.; Anaya, Carlos; Ferguson, Donna; Frankino, Phillip A.; Shivram, Haridha; Lareau, Liana F.; Wyman, Stacia K.; Ott, Melanie; Andino, Raul; Chiu, Charles Y. (20 April 2021). "Transmission, infectivity, and neutralization of a spike L452R SARS-CoV-2 variant". Cell. 0 (0). doi:10.1016/j.cell.2021.04.025. ISSN 0092-8674. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  15. ^ "Gupta Lab, Cambridge on Twitter". Twitter.
  16. ^ "Gupta Lab, Cambridge on Twitter". Twitter.
  17. ^ Doucleff, Michaeleen (24 April 2021). "People Are Talking About A 'Double Mutant' Variant In India. What Does That Mean?". NPR.org. NPR.
  18. ^ Dey, Sushmi. "Covid second wave in India: Percentage of young infected in second wave same, but more serious". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  19. ^ Yadav, Pragya D; Sapkal, Gajanan N. "Neutralization of variant under investigation B.1.617 with sera of BBV152 vaccinees" (PDF). doi:10.1101/2021.04.23.441101. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  20. ^ "Covishield Covaxin effective against 'Indian strain' of coronavirus study suggests". The Week. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  21. ^ "Covaxin found to neutralise 617 variant of COVID-19, says Dr. Fauci". The Hindu. 28 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Covishield, Covaxin effective against 'Indian strain' of coronavirus, study suggests - ET HealthWorld". ETHealthworld.com. The Economic Times. 28 April 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Tracking of Variants". gisaid.org. GISAID. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  24. ^ a b Carrigg, David (21 April 2021). "COVID-19: Double mutant virus first identified in India is now in B.C." Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  25. ^ "First case of B.1.617 variant confirmed in Alberta". edmonton.citynews.ca.
  26. ^ "Britain to add India to COVID-19 travel red-list - health minister". Reuters. London. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  27. ^ "Covid-19: India added to coronavirus 'red list' for travel". BBC News. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  28. ^ "COVID-19 in India". cdc.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  29. ^ Report, Staff. "Covid-19: UAE suspends all passenger flights from India". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  30. ^ "Oman to suspend travel from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh". The National. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  31. ^ Teo, Joyce (22 April 2021). "Countries, including S'pore, on guard against India's new 'double-mutant' Covid-19 variant". The Straits Times.
  32. ^ report, Web. "India Covid crisis: 14 countries that have imposed travel bans, suspensions". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  33. ^ "Alberta reports 1,857 COVID-19 cases, identifies B.1.617 variant infection". CTV News Edmonton. 22 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  34. ^ "Public Health Ontario reports 36 cases of COVID-19 variant first identified in India". CP24. 23 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  35. ^ "Fiji fears a coronavirus 'tsunami' after outbreak found to be Indian variant". SBS News. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  36. ^ "Der har været 11 tilfælde af indisk dobbeltmutation i Danmark, bekræfter SSI" [There have been 11 cases of Indian double mutation in Denmark, confirms SSI]. TV2. 18 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  37. ^ "29 tilfælde af indisk variant fundet i Danmark - Statens Serum Institut er ikke bekymret" [29 cases of Indian variant found in Denmark - Statens Serum Institut is not worried]. Sundhedspolitisk Tidsskrift. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Israel logs Indian COVID-19 variant, sees some vaccine efficacy against it". Reuters. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  39. ^ "זוהו 41 מקרים של הזן (הווריאנט) ההודי, מתוכם 24 חוזרים מחו"ל" [41 cases of the Indian variety have been identified, of which 24 are from abroad]. GOV.IL (in Hebrew). Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  40. ^ "Coronavirus live news, 16:54, 28 April 2021". The Guardian. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  41. ^ "Indisk virusvariant påvist i Norge" [Indian virus variant detected in Norway]. dagbladet.no. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.

External links[edit]

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