New corona variant appeared in Austria: researchers warn – Panorama
– The Oktoberfest starts next weekend. Pathogens such as the corona virus also have reason to celebrate. Its latest variant is particularly worrying, according to a researcher.
Celebrate, drink and stroll: In Bavaria, the locals (and not only) are beaming with joy. The Wiesn will open on the 17th after a two-year Corona break. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Theresienwiese. Visitors are expected in tight crowds. But the Oktoberfest will also be a festival for the corona virus. Experts already fear an increase in the number of cases.
A message from the affected Austria could possibly cause even more unrest. The biologist Ulrich Elling announced on September 9 via Twitter that a new particularly worrying corona mutation was recently detected in Austria. “Another worrying subline is spreading in India and has also arrived in the US and Europe (Austria): BJ.1,” he wrote. “The numbers are still very low, but the newly acquired mutations are really a nasty combination at critical points.”
Another worrying subline is spreading in India and has also arrived in the US and Europe (Austria): BJ.1
The numbers are still very low, but the newly acquired mutations really are a nasty combination at critical points.
1/7 pic.twitter.com/GrlfguoVti— Ulrich Elling (@EllingUlrich) September 9, 2022
This is a subline of omicron BA.2 with an additional 14 mutations in the spike protein. What is striking here is that the many new mutations occur more frequently close to the sites for receptor binding and antibody binding, he explains. “This mutational package makes further significant immune evasion very likely.” This would mean that the corona mutation could evade the immune system even more easily than was the case with previous variants.