Thanks to Kaarina Kreus for sending the link to this CGTN report: Finland finds new COVID-19 variant that may not show up in PCR test. The report, and then a comment:
Researchers in southern Finland have discovered a new, "unique" variant of the coronavirus, local media Yle reported on Thursday.
The variant, Fin-796H, showed similar mutations from variants discovered in the UK and South Africa but also its own characteristics.
Taru Meri, researcher of Helsinki-based Vita Laboratories, said the variant was found in a patient last week so it is unclear how easily the virus can spread or if it's resistant to available vaccines.
Meri said it is unlikely the variant emerged in Finland as the country has a low infection rate of the COVID-19.
The researchers of Vita Laboratories also said it is worth noting that the new variant could escape detection in a PCR test (Polymerase Chain Reaction test), which identifies specific genetic sequences in the virus.
A researcher said "the newly-discovered variant differs from expectations in that it does not genetically resemble any other known variant."
Ilkka Julkunen, Professor of Virology at the University of Turku, told Yle the emergence of the variant was not a major concern.
"I would not be hugely worried yet, because we do not have clear information that this new strain would be more easily transmitted or that it would affect the immune protection brought about by already having had the virus or having received a vaccination," he said.
This is not breaking news. The variant was spotted several days ago, and discussed in a FluTrackers forum. But a February 24 Yle report in Finnish has this to say in Google translation:
A little more information has now been obtained about the virus variant claimed to be the new Finnish corona variant.
Vita Laboratories and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki report that the variant has now been found in another patient. Both confirmed infections are related to the same chain of infection.
It is likely that the variant will also be found in four other patients involved in the chain of infection.
The entire genome of the Fin-796H variant has now been determined. According to Vita Laboratories, sequencing studies have confirmed that this is a previously unrecognized variant in the world.
However, the discovery of variants is not unique, as there are thousands and thousands of different variations of the virus.
Barely developed in Finland
According to the laboratory, Fin-796H differs from all previous variants in at least 15 different places in the genome of the virus. The deviations suggest that the Finland variant is unlikely to have developed in Finland.
"Such a large number of changes do not occur in an instant, so it can be assumed that the variant has developed longer somewhere other than in Finland," Petri Auvinen, Research Director of the Sequencing Unit of the Institute of Biotechnology, says in the press release.
Thus, it is possible that the variant originates from somewhere where less or no sequencing is done.
The sequencing volumes in Finland have been significant at the European level, so it partly explains why the variant was found in Finland.
The genome of the variant has now been submitted to the international GISAID genome database. In addition, Vita and the Institute of Biotechnology have provided information related to the variant and a patient sample to the Department of Health and Welfare.
Information on Fin-796H infections has also been forwarded to infectious disease physicians in the municipalities of the Helsinki metropolitan area and to HUS for official infection control.
