Uttam Maharjan

With strenuous efforts on the part of scientists, vaccines against COVID-19 have been, or are being, developed in developed countries. And massive vaccination campaigns have also been launched in some countries like the USA, the United Kingdom and Russia. What is delightful about the development of such vaccines is the fact that they have been developed in a shorter span of time, that is in less than a year, when the development of other vaccines may take as long as ten years. The development of vaccines has raised the hope that we will be able to curb the spread of the coronavirus that has infected millions of people and killed tens of thousands of people across the globe.

Variant of virus
At a time when the development of vaccines is being celebrated across the world, the pall of dejection has descended on us. A new variant of coronavirus has emerged in England. The new variant was first detected in London in September. By November, 25 per cent of the London cases had been infected with the new variant. And the number had gone up to over 60 per cent by mid-December. Besides London, the new variant is affecting southeast and eastern England. Outside England, the new variant has surfaced in Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and Australia. South Africa and Nigeria have also reported a new variant but it may be different.
It is natural for viruses to mutate. In fact, viruses mutate all the time. The medical community usually keeps tabs on the mutation of viruses so that appropriate strategy can be drawn up to break the transmission of the disease caused by it. The new variant is believed to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the existing one. It is also surmised that it increases the R number, indicating that a person infected with this mutant virus can transmit the disease to more persons than the one infected with the existing one.
The new variant has mutated faster than expected. It has 17 different mutations in its genetic code, out of which eight occur in the spike protein. The spike protein is one of the important parts of the virus that binds to human cells during the initial stages of infection. On the other hand, the remaining nine mutations occur in other parts of the virus. During the pandemic, the coronavirus has been mutating with one or two mutations each month. The dangerous aspect about the new variant is that one type of mutation enables the virus to bind more tightly to human cells, while another type increases its transmissibility. The virus also has a deletion in its genetic code that enables it to evade the immune system in some people.
Mutation is the hallmark of viruses. Some mutants appear and then disappear. A large number of variants of the virus have been recorded in the USA and elsewhere during the pandemic. But the new variant seen in London seems to be a strong mutant. When it appeared in London in September, it drove away other forms of the virus.
It has been found that people infected with the new variant have not developed more severe disease. As far as more transmissibility is concerned, it also depends on how people take precautions against the disease. If they do not show negligent behaviour such as by following health protocol - washing hands with soap and water, using sanitiser, wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding gatherings or crowds -, the rate of transmission can be lowered drastically.
The new variant being a new mutant of the coronavirus, public health officials are studying the virus from various angles. They are trying to find out whether the new variant transmits the disease faster, whether it causes more severe disease, whether it can be detected through the existing tests, whether it can be treated, for example in critical cases, by the existing regime of medicines or whether it can be prevented by the recently developed vaccines. The German pharmaceutical company, BioNTech, which has developed a vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer, has said that their vaccine will be effective against the new variant as well. As a matter of fact, many scientists are sanguine that the recently developed vaccines will be able to counteract the new variant.
However, the emergency of the new variant has dampened the prospects of economic recovery across the world. Many countries, including Nepal, have banned flights to and from London. Gulf countries, which are our labour destinations, have also put restrictions on travel, citing the threat posed by the new variant. This has hampered foreign employment.

New travel restrictions
When the lockdown was imposed on the entire country in March, the number of people going for foreign employment was almost nil for the three months. With the relaxation of restrictions, around 45,000 people went abroad for foreign employment during the first four months of this fiscal year. Now travel restrictions in Britain and other European countries as well as in Asian countries and elsewhere have made it difficult for people to go abroad for foreign employment. So those waiting to go abroad for this purpose are now disappointed.
The coronavirus is really a scourge. It has shown no sign of abating. Rather, second waves of the infection have appeared in European countries, forcing them to re-impose lockdowns or other restrictions. Now the emergency of the new mutant of the virus has added insult to injury. However, man should not lose hope. Research is being done on the new variant. Some companies have developed vaccines and some people have also been inoculated. A day will come when the world will be coronavirus-free. Let's have our fingers crossed.

(Former banker, Maharjan has been regularly writing on contemporary issues for this daily since 2000. uttam.maharjan1964@gmail.com)