New Japanese Variant Of COVID-19 Detected In United States, Infects More Than 10,000 People Worldwide

President Joe Biden inspects a COVID-19 vaccination center in the United States. (Wikimedia Commons/Official White House Photo)

JAKARTA - A new variant of the Coronavirus originating from Japan has been detected in a nursing home in Kentucky, United States, infecting 45 residents and health workers.

The R.1 virus variant is related to the original coronavirus strain and contains many unique mutations, which can cause increased resistance to antibodies in convalescent sera and neutralize monoclonal antibodies.

The evolved variant managed to affect many vaccinated people by avoiding antibodies. The variant was detected in April, during an outbreak in a Kentucky care facility, where nearly all of the population had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

A Kentucky Department of Public Health investigation revealed that unvaccinated and infected staff started the outbreak in early March.

Former Harvard Medical School Professor and infectious disease expert Dr. William A Haseltine in an article published in Forbes said, "R.1 is a variant to watch out for as it has already established a foothold in Japan and the United States", citing the Independent on September 22.

According to the GISAID SARS-CoV-2 database, the variant has infected more than 10,000 people worldwide. This variant shares the highly contagious D614G mutation which is present in other variants of concern such as Delta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.

A mutation in the spike protein, called E484K, conveys increased resistance to the antibody. E484K replaces negatively charged residual glutamic acid for positively charged lysine and is present in Beta, Gamma, Eta, Iota, and Mu variants.

An identical mutation at position 152 was present in one of the small variants of the Delta strain originating in India, writes Dr. Haseltine. The highly contagious Delta variant first infected India and the Asian subcontinent this summer, then quickly spread westward to infect Americans.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, Kentucky has reported more than 661,580 cases and 8,339 deaths related to COVID-19. The state in August 2021 had recorded the highest number of cases, Governor Andy Beshear said during a briefing on Monday.

So far at least 70 percent of eligible Kentucky residents have received a dose of the Coronavirus vaccine, the governor added.

"With everything we're going through right now, we're focused on not enough people being vaccinated. And that's the power of this Delta variant. Getting 70 percent of the population vaccinated against a new virus is a huge achievement. And it takes a lot of work", he told reporters.