Aug. 10 2021 Seven elderly people who completed the full vaccination of the Coronavirus vaccine in a Belgian nursing home died last week after contracting the Coronavirus variant B.1.621 strain. The strain has not yet been named after the Greek alphabet of the World Health Organization, and the European Disease Control Agency lists it as a mutated new coronal strain that “needs to be kept an eye out.”
The elderly people live in a nursing home in the town of Zaventem, near Brussels. Reuters quoted University of Leuven virologist Mark Van Lundst as saying on Monday that 21 elderly people and several staff members at the nursing home had been infected with the mutated strain, of which the infected staff were mildly ill. The seven victims were all elderly people in their 80s and 90s , some of whom were in poor health before contracting the virus . Detectives need further analysis to determine whether the deceased actually died from the mutated strain.
“It’s worrying,” Van Lundst said, given that the deceased had completed the entire vaccination process. ”
The B.1.621 strain was first discovered in Colombia. The strain has spread from South America to the United States in recent weeks and is rare in Europe, said a researcher at the University of Leuven who tested for the virus at the nursing home. The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention listed the strain as a variant of the virus that “needs to be kept under care”, meaning preliminary evidence suggests that the strain may be more contagious and resistant to neutralizing antibodies.
WHO currently uses the Greek alphabet to name the main mutated strain of Coronavirus. According to Reuters, scientists don’t yet know whether the B.1.621 strain is more contagious than other mutated strains. Less than 1 per cent of those known to have a Coronavirus infection in Belgium are infected with the strain, and about 95 per cent are infected with the Delta strain, which was first discovered in India.
