People's Daily health client Qiu Yue
On 14 January, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, reported seven covid-19 positive cases, which were initially judged to be Omilon virus. According to the incomplete statistics of the Health Times reporter, so far, in the past month, there have been 10 reports of Infection of Omi kerong in Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hunan, Changsha, Shenzhen, Zhejiang, Henan, Dalian, Liaoning, Wuxi, Jiangsu, Zhuhai, and Zhongshan, Guangdong.
A research team from 49 scientific institutions and units, including the Lancet Laboratory of South Africa and the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, published in the top academic journal Nature on January 7, 2022, pointed out that on November 24, 2021, these SARS-CoV-2 genomes from South Africa and Botswana were designated as belonging to a new PANGO lineage (B.1.1.529), which was subsequently divided into BA.1 (main branch), BA.2 and BA.3 subphylatures.
The paper points out that the BA.1/Omicron sequence is a monophyletic evolutionary branch rooted in the B.1.1 lineage, with no clear underlying ancestor. The other two related lineages, BA.2 and BA.3, both have many characteristic mutations in BA.1/Omicron and have many unique mutations of their own. Although BA.2 and BA.3 are evolutionarily associated with BA.1 because they both branch out from the same B.1.1 node and have no apparent ancestors, these three subtrees evolve independently of each other along separate branches.
As of early 2022, Omilon has been found in more than 100 countries, and the GISAID database has now disclosed more than 100,000 genomes. The research team emphasizes that the emergence and rapid spread of Omi kerong poses a threat to the world.
3 lineages of Omikejong have been found in China, and 418 cases of BA.1 have been confirmed
The People's Daily health client combed the details of the reports in various places and found that at present, China has found the B.1.1.529, BA.1, BA.2 lineage, and has not reported the BA.3 lineage.
Among them, Tianjin and Changsha have reported B.1.1.529, Tianjin, Dalian, Wuxi, Anyang have reported BA.1 lineage, Guangzhou has reported BA.2 lineage, the male returned from India, and on December 27, the nucleic acid results were positive, and after sequencing analysis, the virus genome belongs to the Omilon BA.2 lineage. The case is also the first patient with the BA.2 spectrum found in China.
Since 2022, the indigenous Aomi Kerong infected people in Tianjin, Henan Anyang, Liaoning Dalian and other places have all belonged to the BA.1 evolutionary branch, and 418 cases have been confirmed so far.
Image from Zhuhai release.
Evolved strains can undergo partial immune escape
The paper also points out that the evolution of Omikeron is the main reason for partial immune escape or rapid transmission ability. The team mentioned that the BA.1/Omicron strain is unique in that it has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein. Fifteen occurrences occur in the spike protein receptor binding domain, 5 of which have been shown alone to enhance binding to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. The 7 RBD mutations are expected to have a moderate to strong effect on the binding of at least 3 of the 4 broad classes of RBD-targeted neutralizing antibodies.
Li Lanjuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said in an interview with the City Express on January 11 that at present, due to the continuous mutation of the virus, the ability of various types of vaccines in the world to prevent the infection of the Aomi Kerong strain has decreased to varying degrees, including several existing vaccines in China. However, after vaccination, the hospitalization, severe illness and mortality caused by the mutant virus infection have been significantly reduced, especially for those infected with the booster vaccine. Therefore, in response to the mutated virus, we should be vaccinated in time to "strengthen the needle" and do a good job of personal protection.
Details of the 10 reports of our country are as follows:
Tianjin
Tianjin is the first city in China to report the detection of imported cases from outside Omi kerong. On December 13, 2021, the Tianjin Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that on December 9, 2021, A.M. Kerong infected people were found among asymptomatic covid-19 infected people imported from outside Tianjin. The Tianjin Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis of the respiratory specimen of the infected person, and reviewed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, all confirmed that the New Coronavirus Omiljung variant (B.1.1.529 evolutionary branch) was detected.
From 21:00 on January 8 to 21:00 on January 9, there were 20 new cases of positive infection in Tianjin. On the same day, the Tianjin Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention completed the whole genome sequencing of the first two local cases of new coronavirus screened. After analysis and comparison, and confirmed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the two indigenous cases of new coronavirus belong to the VOC/Omicron strain (BA.1 evolutionary branch).
Guangzhou, Guangdong
On December 14, 2021, Chen Bin, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission and spokesman of the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission, reported at the press conference on epidemic prevention and control that the first positive case of Overseas Imported Aomi Kerong was found in Guangdong Province.
The case was entered shanghai from abroad on 27 November 2021 and was several times negative during the quarantine. On December 11, after lifting the isolation, he returned to Guangzhou by plane (CA1837) and was transferred to his home in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou for home isolation, and was confirmed as a positive case on December 13. Since then, from December 16 to 18, 3 new cases have been added, all of which are patients living in the same building on the 14th.
According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Weekly Report( English), on December 19, 2021, a 31-year-old man boarded a flight from Bhubaneswar, India, to Mumbai, India, and then from Mumbai to Muscat, Oman. On December 24, he flew back to Guangzhou from Muscat and was transferred to a centralized quarantine hotel in Foshan. Later, on December 27, 2021, the nucleic acid result was positive. On December 29, the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention(s) sequencing analysis concluded that the virus genome belongs to the BA.2 lineage and is an Opmi Kerong variant. This case is the first patient with the BA.2 lineage found in China.
Changsha, Hunan
On December 18, 2021, the Changsha Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Headquarters of Hunan Province released a message on the evening of the 18th that the Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis of the new coronavirus on the respiratory specimens of the new coronavirus infected people imported from outside Changsha on December 16, and after review by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it was confirmed that the New Coronavirus Omiljung variant (B.1.1.529 evolutionary branch) was detected.
Shenzhen, Guangdong
According to the news of shenzhen health commission on December 25, 2021, on December 22, 2021, FLIGHT CA770 arrived in Shenzhen from Los Angeles, USA, and 5 passengers were diagnosed as confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia. On December 24, the Shenzhen Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention traced the origin of the new coronavirus on the samples of 5 people, and the results of the whole gene sequence analysis of the virus in the samples of 3 people showed that it was a Omi kerong variant.
chekiang
On December 28, 2021, at the press conference on the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Zhejiang Province, Sheng Jifang, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, said that the confirmed cases of the Aomi Kerong mutant strain imported from abroad in Zhejiang a week ago have been effectively isolated.
Anyang, Henan
On January 8, Anyang City found two cases of positive nucleic acid of the new coronavirus in the active testing population. On January 9, the whole genome of the virus was sequenced by the laboratory of the Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, showing that the two local cases infected with the virus were all BA.1 branches of the Aomi Kerong variant, and after analysis and comparison, they belonged to the same transmission chain as the existing local epidemic situation in Jinnan District, Tianjin.
Dalian, Liaoning
On January 12, two cases of returnees from Tianjin had positive nucleic acid test results. As confirmed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one positive infected person in Dalian belongs to the VOC/Omicron variant (BA.1 evolutionary branch), which is highly homologous to the new coronavirus infected by the Tianjin-Henan Anyang associated epidemic indicator case.
Wuxi, Jiangsu Province
According to the Wuxi CDC WeChat public account, Wuxi City detected for the first time on January 10 a case of Aomi Kerong variant infection, the infected person flew from Australia to Shanghai on January 5, after a 3-day centralized isolation in Shanghai, through the transfer of special shifts closed-loop transfer to Wuxi City for centralized isolation, the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the infected person respiratory specimens of the new coronavirus whole genome sequencing and sequence analysis, the result is the new crown virus VOC / Omicron variant strain (BA.1 evolutionary branch). The infected person is a closed-loop entry control personnel, and is currently isolated and treated in a designated hospital in Wuxi City.
Zhuhai, Guangdong
On January 14, a press conference on epidemic prevention and control in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, announced that on January 13, Nanping Town and Qianshan Street in Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai City, carried out large-scale nucleic acid testing. Up to now, 7 cases of nucleic acid initial screening of new coronary pneumonia have been found in Zhuhai City, and after the municipal CENTER for Disease Control and Prevention has reviewed positive, the gene sequencing has been preliminarily judged to be Omicrovirus virus.
Zhongshan, Guangdong
On January 13, Zhongshan City found a positive case of new coronavirus nucleic acid in the population of patients treated. According to the press conference on the prevention and control of the epidemic in Zhongshan City held on January 14, combined with the genetic sequencing of positive cases, the positive nucleic acid cases of the new coronavirus in Zhongshan were preliminarily judged to be the Aomi Kerong variant.
Resources:
Notes from the Field: An Imported Case of BA.2 Lineage of Omicron Variant COVID-19 — Guangdong Province, China, December 28, 2021，CCDC weekly.
Rapid epidemic expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in southern Africa
，Natuer，07 January 2022。