Table 3.
Clinical observations for new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants
| Variants | B.1.1.7 | B1.351 | P.1 | B.1. 427/429 | B.1.526 | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmissibility | Rate of transmission 43–82% higher (16) | 1.5x higher [38] | 2.6-fold higher [47] | 18–24% higher [51] | Elevated, no precise data | No published data |
| Severity | No change [29,30]; | Possibly increased fatality rate [38] | Elevated mortality rate, but may be due only to healthcare system overload [48] | No published data | No published data | No published data |
| Symptoms | Cough, sore throat, fatigue and myalgia more frequent, while anosmia is less common [31] | No published data | No published data | No published data | No published data | No published data |
| Age distribution of cases | Small, statistically significant shift towards higher youth infection rates: may be an artefact [32] | Anecdotally, more young people being infected | No published data | No published data | Anecdotally, more old people being infected | No published data |
| Re-infection rate | No significant difference [30] | One study: reinfection independent of serostatus [44] | No precise data, transmission in high seroprevalence environment | No published data | No published data | No published data |
| Detection by current RT-PCR | S-gene dropout | Unaffected | Unaffected | Unaffected | Unaffected | B.1.525: S-gene dropout, others unaffected |
| Viral load | Not significantly different [27] | Reportedly higher | No published data | 1 Ct-value higher | No published data | No published data |
| Detection by Ag-RDT | No significant differences [36] | Similar sensitivity [46] | No published data | No data | No published data | No published data |
Ag-RDT, antigenic rapid diagnostic test.