From: slider@atashram.com

### - somewhat interesting genetics-based article that clears up a few
things:


A fascinating video shows how London became a hub for the global spread of coronavirus after the initial outbreak in China.

Scientists have used genetic sequencing data to illustrate how different strands of the virus travelled to the UK via the capital and how it was
passed on to other countries.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8164615/Genetic-sequencing-data-map-shows-London-coronavirus-hub.html

The map, produced by NextStrain.org, shows how COVID-19 started in Wuhan, before spreading across Asia to Singapore and South Korea, before being
carried by travellers to London. From there, it was flown to the USA and
across Europe.

Yesterday saw the biggest increase in UK deaths in one day, with the
figures jumping 260 to 1,016. There have now been more than 17,000
confirmed cases.

The data also reveals there are eight different strands of the virus, but
they all appear to mutate very slowly, with only tiny differences between
them.

Data scientists behind the map say none of the strains of the virus are
more deadly than any of the others.

They also claim that the strains will not grow more lethal as they evolve.

'The virus mutates so slowly that the virus strains are fundamentally very similar to each other,' Charles Chiu, a professor of medicine and
infectious disease at the University of California, San Francisco School
of Medicine, told USA Today.

Tracking the different strains of SARS-CoV-2, as the virus is officially
named, allows scientists to see whether containment measures are working,
by showing whether new cases are from community spread, or imported from a different hotspot.

Researchers stress that the different strains are fundamentally similar, because coronavirus mutates very slowly, about eight to 10 times slower
than the common flu.

So far even in the virus's most divergent strains scientists have found
only 11 base pair changes, out of a genome of 30,000 base pairs.

That means the different strains are not causing different symptoms, or inflicting different rates of fatality.

Although different countries around the world have recorded significantly different fatality rates, this is almost certainly because they are
testing their populations at different rates.

Because many cases have no symptoms, aggressive and widespread testing
makes the fatality rate appear to drop, because the total number of
confirmed cases is much higher.

Researchers also say that when patients show no symptoms, or mild
symptoms, it is not because they have contracted a 'mild strain' of the
virus.

Rather, differences in symptoms most likely have more to do with an individual's own immune system and general health. A strain that has
little effect on one person could be deadly to another.

'The current virus strains are still fundamentally very similar to each
other,' Chiu said.

In the UK, widespread testing is not available, with only those admitted
to hospital entitled to a swab.

Over the weekend, it was announced that tests are to be rolled out among frontline NHS staff, starting with critical care doctors and nurses.

The slow mutation rate of the virus has given scientists hope that an
eventual vaccine could provide protection for years, or even decades.

Depending on how quickly a virus mutates, some vaccines have to be
regularly updated, such a flu vaccines that have to be administered every
year.

Other vaccines, such as for measles and chickenpox, provide protection for decades, or even a lifetime.

On Monday, Peter Thielen, a biologist with the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory, said that it appears coronavirus mutates slowly, more
like measles and chickenpox than the flu.

'When this virus was first sequenced in China, that information was
helpful in starting the process to develop a vaccine,' Thielen explained
in a statement.

'What we're doing informs whether or not the virus is mutating away from
that original sequence, and how quickly,' he continued, describing his experiments to sequence the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

'Based on the mutation rate, early data indicates that this would likely
be a single vaccine rather than one that needs to be updated each year,
like the flu shot,' he said.

Experts say that the earliest a vaccine for coronavirus could be widely available is a year to 18 months.

Although vaccine trials are underway in the U.S., UK and elsewhere, time
is needed to prove the shots safe and effective before they are rolled out
to millions.

How is coronavirus spreading in different parts of the world?

The researchers at NextStrain.org issued the following situation report on March 27, based on an analysis of 1,495 publicly shared viral genomes.

By comparing these viral genomes to each other, they can characterize how
the virus is moving around the world and spreading locally. They report:

Europe

'We continue to see strong mixing of samples across Europe, suggesting
that the virus has continued to move across borders in the last 3-5 weeks.
As mitigation measures have time to take effect, we may see more
clustering of cases by country.'

North America

'Within the U.S., transmission patterns are complex: samples collected
from opposite sides of the country still show close relationships.

'Washington state has had at least two independent introductions (the
first likely from China, the second likely from Europe), which have led to
two separate transmission chains.

'There is evidence for likely local transmission within several states,
most clearly within California.'

Central and South America

'We received new sequences from South America this week, but sampling
remains sparse. There may be more COVID activity in this region than is captured in the available data, but we cannot say for sure.'

Asia

'We find evidence for recent export of COVID-19 from Iran.'

Africa

'The phylogeny suggests likely local transmission within Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, for the last 11+ days.

'We received new sequences from Africa this week, but sampling remains
sparse; there may be much more COVID activity in this region than is
captured in the available data.'

Oceania

'There is evidence in the genetic data for local transmission in New South Wales, Australia.'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)