Four Delta sub-variants found in Thailand no immediate cause for alarm

[snoop1130]

 

Four sub-variants of the fast-spreading Delta strain of coronavirus have been found in samples sent to the Centre of Medical Genomics at Mahidol University for examination, said Professor Emeritus Dr. Wasun Chantratita, chief of the centre, today (Tuesday).

 

He assured the public, however, that there is no cause for panic at the moment, as infections by the four sub-variants are still limited and there is very little information about their severity. He explained that all the genetic information on the sub-variants has been uploaded to “GISAID”, the global databank on COVID-19, adding that close monitoring of the sub-variants will have to be undertaken if there are more cases.

 

The sub-variants found in Thailand are AY.4 or B.1.617.2.4, which was found in 3% of the samples tested, AY.6 or B.1.617.2.6, which was found in fewer than 1% of samples tested, AY.10 or B.1.617.2.10, which was found in fewer than 1% tested and AY.12 or B.1.617.2.12, which was also found in fewer than 1% of samples tested.

 

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Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/four-delta-sub-variants-found-in-thailand-no-immediate-cause-for-alarm/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-08-24

 

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[BKKTRAVELER]

They said that too when the Titanic was sinking, no?

[smedly]

when do these so called sub vaiants become variants - what is the difference ?

 

are these variants unique to Thailand 

 

Ok so it seems some of these variants at least in the US alter the spike protein that the vaccines work with so I guess the worst that could happen is the vaccines don't work any more, hardly an issue of concern - right ?

Edited August 24, 2021 by smedly

[ukrules]

15 minutes ago, smedly said:

hardly an issue of concern - right ?

In the land of the unvaccinated it makes little difference.

[chalawaan]

The bargirl variant, the dirty farang variant, the naughty noisy drug party variant, and the activist variant, which you get in prison.

 

You can panic tomollow.

Edited August 24, 2021 by chalawaan

[MrJ2U]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

He assured the public, however, that there is no cause for panic at the moment, as infections by the four sub-variants are still limited and there is very little information about their severity.

More reason to be alarmed.

 

 

[ben2talk]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

In the land of the unvaccinated it makes little difference.

It makes a huge difference - the delta variants, we know from the UK and US, spreads easier - like Measles - and has a much higher transmissibility (Ro is between 6 and 7).

 

It should quickly saturate the population before starting to calm down...

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, ben2talk said:

It should quickly saturate the population before starting to calm down...

Yes, I know, hence it makes little difference if the vaccines work or not which is what I was referring to

[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He assured the public, however, that there is no cause for panic at the moment, as infections by the four sub-variants are still limited and there is very little information about their severity.

Isn’t that in itself cause for concern?

[Scott]

A post with an unsubstantiated claim has been removed. 

 

[AgentSmith]

6 hours ago, smedly said:

when do these so called sub vaiants become variants - what is the difference ?

As soon as they gain any importance. New variants are discovered all the time and there are already thousands of them if not more. For researchers this is just another day in the lab but the only effect of news articles such as these is confusion and needless worry.

[RichardColeman]

Only issue about this story is if Thailand keep buying 13% Chinese rubbish - somebody in Thailand is making a killing (pun intended) out of these Chinese deals.

[Geoffggi]

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The sub-variants found in Thailand are AY.4 or B.1.617.2.4, which was found in 3% of the samples tested, AY.6 or B.1.617.2.6, which was found in fewer than 1% of samples tested, AY.10 or B.1.617.2.10, which was found in fewer than 1% tested and AY.12 or B.1.617.2.12, which was also found in fewer than 1% of samples tested.

It would also be relevant to know the overall numbers tested which would be a better indication of how important these sub-variants are 

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He assured the public, however, that there is no cause for panic at the moment, as infections by the four sub-variants are still limited and there is very little information about their severity.

There was no reason to panic back in January... that didn't work out too well either.

[vandeventer]

10 hours ago, smedly said:

when do these so called sub vaiants become variants - what is the difference ?

 

are these variants unique to Thailand 

 

Ok so it seems some of these variants at least in the US alter the spike protein that the vaccines work with so I guess the worst that could happen is the vaccines don't work any more, hardly an issue of concern - right ?

These variants get stronger and stronger, it would have to be stronger that the Delta variant to be a problem.

[Jonathan Swift]

11 hours ago, smedly said:

when do these so called sub vaiants become variants - what is the difference ?

 

are these variants unique to Thailand 

 

Ok so it seems some of these variants at least in the US alter the spike protein that the vaccines work with so I guess the worst that could happen is the vaccines don't work any more, hardly an issue of concern - right ?

The best available information as I have been able to keep up with indicates the major difference with delta is that it is much more contagious. The vaccines still "work" against it, no one has died of delta who has been vaccinated to the best of my knowledge. The vaccines protect the bulk of the body's organs and systems,  but delta can still invade the naso pharyngeal and upper respiratory areas and create a milder form of the disease, although most often symptoms among the vaccinated are minimal. Because of its highly contagious nature, there is more virus to be spread from these milder cases in vaccinated people through exhaled aerosol droplets. There are no variants thus far whose spike proteins have mutated to the point where vaccines are ineffective. But remember, this is changing as we speak. Meanwhile if you come across anyone who refuses to get vaccinated medical experts advise you to smack them upside the head. 

[Caspersfriend]

Unfortunately there are plenty more out there:

 

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as of 20 August 2021

ECDC regularly assesses new evidence on variants detected through epidemic intelligence, rules-based genomic variant screening, or other scientific sources. If a decision is made to add, remove, or change the category for any variant, the tables are updated to reflect this change. The tables are regularly sent for consultation to ECDC and WHO Regional Office for Europe’s joint virus characterisation working group. The rules-based genomic screening is performed using an open source algorithm The weekly ECDC variant surveillance data report can be found in the weekly COVID-19 country overviews published on ECDC’s website. On 10 June 2021 ECDC published “Rapid Risk Assessment: Assessing SARS-COV-2 circulation, variants of concern, non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccine rollout in the EU/EEA, 15th update” and on 23 June 2021 “Threat Assessment Brief: Implications for the EU/EEA on the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of concern”.

 

Tables of variants in the link below:

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern

[aussienam]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Only issue about this story is if Thailand keep buying 13% Chinese rubbish - somebody in Thailand is making a killing (pun intended) out of these Chinese deals.

You would hope that Sinovac would have been scrapped as a viable vaccine against current strains by now and all future orders would be on only those vaccines that have acceptable efficacy.

 

Having a Sinovac shot means having to then get boosters from other vaccines anyway, to improve your immunity response. 

 

The arrogant CCP in not acknowledging other superior vaccines for entry into China, is also a big part of this issue.  CCP just cannot bear to lose face with anything at all.  And big money likely changing hands. 

 

It's sadly the impoverished Thai people who are the ones getting the rest of the inferior Chinese made stuff to appease the CCP and hence the unnecessary deaths when COVID Delta kills a percentage of them.  Really sad and disgraceful IMO.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/covid-vaccines-delta-china-asia/2021/08/10/24d0df60-f664-11eb-a636-18cac59a98dc_story.html

Edited August 25, 2021 by aussienam

[rwill]

Think of variants like us having kids. You have the same parents but the kids are all a little different.  Same thing happens with viruses.  

The more unvaccinated people there are the more they can reproduce and create more variants.

The point of a vaccine is not to make you immune to getting the virus but to stop it before it starts reproducing to levels that overwhelm you.

I think the term "herd immunity" is a bit of a misnomer. No one becomes immune to the virus entering their body.

[raccos21]

They are supposed to pay attention to distributing the vaccines that available and vaccinating the people as quick as possible to stop the virus spreading or mutating, rather than testing and announcing the new variants.

[Bkk Brian]

21 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

The best available information as I have been able to keep up with indicates the major difference with delta is that it is much more contagious. The vaccines still "work" against it, no one has died of delta who has been vaccinated to the best of my knowledge. The vaccines protect the bulk of the body's organs and systems,  but delta can still invade the naso pharyngeal and upper respiratory areas and create a milder form of the disease, although most often symptoms among the vaccinated are minimal. Because of its highly contagious nature, there is more virus to be spread from these milder cases in vaccinated people through exhaled aerosol droplets. There are no variants thus far whose spike proteins have mutated to the point where vaccines are ineffective. But remember, this is changing as we speak. Meanwhile if you come across anyone who refuses to get vaccinated medical experts advise you to smack them upside the head. 

You're not far off and I agree with your sentiment, more up to date info however is also out there regards delta. Yes its more contagious but it also has immune resistant capabilities so renders the vaccines less effective although they are still effective enough to prevent serious illness and death in most cases. Caveat with that is the brand of vaccine and the waning of antibodies and t cells over time. Plenty of people are dying from Delta even after both doses of vaccines but in comparison to those unvaccinated then the percentage is tiny.

 

Good way to think of it is like this.

 

The vaccine is so if you get Covid your body’s gone through a fight camp and is now ready for the main event. Not getting it is like showing up with no training. Huge chance you’ll lose.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Bkk Brian

[Tarteso]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

that there is no cause for panic at the moment, as infections by the four sub-variants are still limited

Ahh ok… So no alarm ehhh!!!

Looking for excuses to reopen the Country ?

 

 Playing again? ????

[Nojohndoe]

8 minutes ago, aussienam said:

You would hope that Sinovac would have been scrapped as a viable vaccine against current strains by now and all future orders would be on only those vaccines that have acceptable efficacy.

 

Having a Sinovac shot means having to then get boosters from other vaccines anyway, to improve your immunity response. 

 

The arrogant CCP in not acknowledging other superior vaccines for entry into China, is also a big part of this issue.  CCP just cannot bear to lose face with anything at all.  And big money likely changing hands. 

 

It's sadly the impoverished Thai people who are the ones getting the rest of the inferior Chinese made stuff to appease the CCP and hence the unnecessary deaths when COVID Delta kills a percentage of them.  Really sad and disgraceful IMO.

Actually not true. China has long acknowledged the minimal efficacy of their vaccines and are now considering  importing mRNA as booster shots. But like  most of the world procurement remains the problem. What surprises me is that China has obviously not developed their own mRNA version. Then again maybe they are?

[Skeptic7]

Prepare????for????alarm????

 

[rabas]

These new sub-variants (AY.4, AY.6, AY.10, AY.12) were not first seen in Thailand but are relatively new. The variant numbers were assigned to the pango naming system Aug 12, 2021, and have been recently circulating in the UK.  

 

pango-designation:Proposal for sub-lineages within B.1.617.2 issue #180

 

However, they may well have arisen independently in Thailand. One suggestion is this group of mutations, and another group in the US (AY.3 ...) represent Delta trying to work it's way around the immune system and vaccines. Another anticipated Ruhrho moment.

 

Discussion:  https://www.coronaheadsup.com/tag/ay-10/

 

An interesting question is, are these variants showing up in areas that received a lot of Sinovac? Or one dose of AZ?

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by rabas

[wombat]

sub-zeta, sub-eta, sub-theta, sub-iota.....when they grow up they will be zeta, eta, theta, iota variants.
Hardly rocket science.

[raccos21]

1 hour ago, Nojohndoe said:

Actually not true. China has long acknowledged the minimal efficacy of their vaccines and are now considering  importing mRNA as booster shots. But like  most of the world procurement remains the problem. What surprises me is that China has obviously not developed their own mRNA version. Then again maybe they are?

They did and already clinical trial in Mexico last May.

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mexico-start-phase-iii-clinical-trials-chinas-walvax-covid-vaccine-2021-05-11/

[johnarth]

more bs when someone said there was a new more dangerous corvid real doctors looked they said can not tell the difference this was not reported again and so it goes

[berrec]

COVID -19 variances ...variances.... everywhere.

 

Nothing new to see here folks.

 

It's a flu virus; just like our annual flu viruses they repopulate in mutation types each and every year.

 

What else were we all the medical boffins expecting; that this Novel Coronavirus would not spawn ongoing multi mutations. 

 

C'mon man!

 

Lets get on with life and just accept that this virus and it's mutation siblings will be with us forever. 

[grumbleweed]

Quote

Four Delta sub-variants found in Thailand

 

Amazing. They can count to 4