Anonymous Coward
User ID: 79901721
 United States
12/31/2021 12:04 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa So, biowarfare or just a mouse problem in Hong Kong? [ link to inews.co.uk (secure)] According to Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Patient Zero – case number 12388 – flew to South Africa on 23 October, returning on 11 November on a Qatar Airlines flight QR818.
He tested negative on arrival at Hong Kong airport, but under the territory’s strict quarantine rules he was put up in the Regal Airport Hotel in Chek Lap Kok for the required 21 days.
Two days later he tested positive for Covid-19, with the health authority saying his sample showed signs of a mutation, and the next day, 14 November, he was admitted to hospital with a high viral load.
On 22 November, the patient’s genome sample was uploaded onto GISAID, the global genomic database used by virologists around the world to analyse and compare data.
On that same day, the CHP noticed a link between case 12388 and a second, labelled 12404 – someone who had not been to South Africa but was staying in the same hotel as the 36-year-old. In fact, their rooms were opposite each other on the 5th floor of the Regal Airport Hotel.
Case 12404 had checked into the hotel on 10 November, a day before case 12388, and tested negative twice before being diagnosed with Covid-19 on 18 November. He was also admitted to hospital.
Investigators swabbed the rooms of the two men – room 5111 for case 12404 and room 5112 for case 12388 – and found 25 positive samples of Covid-19 on surfaces and other areas.
The CHP report, published on 22 November and seen by i, reads: “Opinions from experts suggested that case 12404, who had stayed in the room opposite to the room where case 12388 had stayed, might have been infected with the virus while air flowed to the corridor when case 12388 opened his hotel room door without wearing a surgical mask, coupled with unsatisfactory air flow.”
Officials contact-traced everyone who stayed on their corridor between 11 and 14 November. It is believed there are no further cases.
Health experts in this country have told i this level of infectiousness – transmission occurring across a corridor when a hotel door is opened – has occurred with Delta, which is also a highly infectious strain.
But this still suggests it is a high-transmission variant, and the CHP report is one of a number that have been pored over by the UK Health Security Agency and World Health Organisation as they scramble to assess how infectious the B.1.1.529 variant is.
As officials in Hong Kong were investigating the two airport hotel cases, scientists in South Africa were trying to establish what was causing a new wave in the country, with an outbreak centred on Gauteng province.
Cases there had risen from a very low level at the start of November to an exponential growth of cases in the space of two weeks. Less than 1 per cent of people in Gauteng were testing positive at the start of November, but this rose to 6 per cent within a fortnight.
South Africa’s high level of genomic sampling meant scientists there were able to quickly establish something different about these new cases. Since 12 November, they have found 77 samples with what is known as S-gene failure – essentially a gene that is missing in a normal covid genome profile.
Although many scientists in South Africa and internationally were noticing evidence of a new variant, a virologist back in the UK was the first to officially report it.
On 22 November, the first sequences were uploaded onto GISAID – including the pair of travellers from Hong Kong.
The next day, Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, posted a Pango lineage request – essentially the internationally agreed system of naming covid variants.
Marking it “urgent”, he labelled it “B.1.1 descendant associated with Southern Africa with extremely high number of Spike mutations”, listing 32 of these changes – twice the number seen in Delta.
On Twitter, Dr Peacock described the profile of the variant as “horrific”. There were just four cases, but over the next 24 hours the online database entry would see more samples added – to around 10, including some from Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong.Why are we still having a 2022 Winter Olypmics? How many more variants will that spread around the globe? |
Anonymous Coward (OP)
User ID: 79901721
United States
12/31/2021 12:19 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa And here's the kicker: [ link to www.latimes.com (secure)]
Did failure to adequately treat HIV patients give rise to the Omicron variant?
immune system battered by HIV or another immune-compromising condition that can cause a prolonged coronavirus infection, according to the South African scientist who detected the fast-spreading genetic mutant.
Tulio De Oliveira said the emergence of Omicron in a patient unable to clear the virus quickly was “the most plausible” origin story for the world’s newest variant of concern.Is this simply Chinese propaganda? Conspiracy theorists have long claimed covid contained HIV mutations. Is this China passing responsibility off to South Africa, since African AIDS is a well worn trope? |
Anonymous Coward (OP)
User ID: 79901721
United States
12/31/2021 12:46 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80901028
United States
12/31/2021 07:49 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80263753
 Netherlands
12/31/2021 07:57 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa SHILL for MSM, big pharma... sigh |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 81216092
12/31/2021 07:58 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa there is no omicron |
A Deplorable Neanderthal
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User ID: 52396769
 United Kingdom
12/31/2021 08:00 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa Well patient zero must have been at least double vaxxed to be able to fly. Rare breakthrough case Safe and effective  #DefundTheBBC |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80901028
United States
12/31/2021 08:00 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa SHILL for MSM, big pharma... sigh
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 80263753 China shill. *sigh* |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80901028
United States
12/31/2021 08:01 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa there is no omicron
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 81216092 Moran. It's a weapon. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 49005184
United States
12/31/2021 08:11 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa
And here's the kicker: [ link to www.latimes.com (secure)]
Did failure to adequately treat HIV patients give rise to the Omicron variant?
immune system battered by HIV or another immune-compromising condition that can cause a prolonged coronavirus infection, according to the South African scientist who detected the fast-spreading genetic mutant.
Tulio De Oliveira said the emergence of Omicron in a patient unable to clear the virus quickly was “the most plausible” origin story for the world’s newest variant of concern.Is this simply Chinese propaganda? Conspiracy theorists have long claimed covid contained HIV mutations. Is this China passing responsibility off to South Africa, since African AIDS is a well worn trope? lies! I love how the article uses the word "probably" in the first paragraph. They are reporting speculation as the news and not actual facts. Stop falling for it. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80847667
United States
12/31/2021 08:25 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa Does anyone know how many people died from omicron globally? |
Boiling Frog
User ID: 80065960
United States
12/31/2021 08:36 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa  LET'S GO BRANDON!!!
Ego imperium repraesentabo nope nos repraesentat!
My location says Canada sometimes, even though I'm in America. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 81357942
 Malta
12/31/2021 08:40 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa So, it suggests the Omicron variant came from the almost completely vaccinated China, not low vaccinated South Africa. But, but vaccines will save us.  |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 80924206
United Kingdom
12/31/2021 03:06 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa So, it suggests the Omicron variant came from the almost completely vaccinated China, not low vaccinated South Africa. But, but vaccines will save us. Look at the lineage schematic for covid-19. Omicron comes straight from the beginning.It hasn't transmuted from any of the variants. My guess is the Wuhan scientists had this Omicron all ready and waiting from before they released the original/covid v.1. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 81636776
United States
12/31/2021 04:30 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: Omicron patient zero - traveled from Hong Kong to South Africa This is all bullshit, they are essentially tracking the cold virus and giving "big scary names"....Its a manufactured crisis. |
