USA: 18.5% vaccine breakthrough in New Jersey

In a sampling of data from July 20 to July 26, fully vaccinated individuals accounted for 18.5 percent of new cases (803 of 4,332 new COVID-19 positive test results), but just three percent of all new hospitalizations (11 of 378) and no deaths (0 of 21).  More...

Preprint: Characterization of the emerging B.1.621 variant of interest of SARS-CoV-2

In this study, we reported the emergence and spread of the novel B.1.621 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, a new VOI with the insertion 146N and several amino acid substitutions in the Spike protein (T95I,Y144T, Y145S, R346K, E484K, N501Y and P681H).  More...

Belgium: 7 fully vaccinated care home residents die after contracting B.1.621 Mu variant first found in Colombia

During the past two weeks, 7 residents of a care home near Zaventem in Belgium have died after having contracted the B.1.621 variant of coronavirus first identified in Colombia, South America.  More...