After the British variant of the Chinese Communist virus, the South African variant has also spread to Guangdong.

Guangdong, following the discovery of the British variant of the CCP virus (New Coronavirus), today (January 6) officially reported that the South African mutant strain of 501Y.V2 was isolated locally from the throat swab of a confirmed South African patient.

The Guangdong Provincial CDC website today reported that the center isolated the 501Y.V2 South African mutant strain from a pharyngeal swab sample of a 55-year-old South African national airline pilot.

The pilot entered Guangzhou from Singapore on the evening of Dec. 8, 2020 and collected a nasopharyngeal swab for nucleic acid testing, which was positive. The patient was subsequently transferred to the Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital for isolation and treatment.

On December 31, the Guangdong Provincial CDC performed virus isolation and gene sequencing analysis on the pharyngeal swab sample of the case sent from the Eighth People’s Hospital.

On the evening of January 5, 2021, the viral genome sequence was identified by rechecking the original sample and the virus isolate culture, which belonged to subtype B.1.351, suggesting a 501Y.V2 South African mutant strain.

V2 South African mutant strain was reported to have 23 nucleotide variants compared to the reference genome Wuh01 (sequence number MN908947), and in addition to having the same N501Y mutation as the British mutant strain subtype B.1.1.7, it also contains two key S-protein E484K and K417N loci that have potentially important effects on the infectivity of the virus mutations in the S proteins E484K and K417N, which are potentially important for viral infectivity.

Dr. Simon Clarke, a cellular microbiologist at the University of Reading in the UK, has told the BBC that “the South African variant has some additional mutations including some changes in the viral stinger protein, which is concerning.”

Dr. Clarke said, “The South African variant causes more extensive changes in the stinger protein compared to the changes in the Kent variant, which may make the virus more sluggish to vaccine-induced immune responses.”

Professor Francois Balloux of University College London said, “The E484K mutation has been found to reduce antibody recognition. It therefore helps SARS-CoV-2 viruses to bypass immune protection provided by prior infection or vaccination.”

The 501Y.V2 South African mutant strain was first identified in South Africa in mid-October 2020 and subsequently spread rapidly, becoming the dominant virus variant in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa by early November.

Related cases have now also been identified in Austria, Norway, the United Kingdom and Japan.