The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses if specific mutations and combinations of mutations alter the behaviour of the virus. The TAG-VE was convened on 26 November 2021 to assess the SARS-CoV-2 variant: B.1.1.529.
The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24 November 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.
A team led by researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle evaluated 30,420 adult recipients of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine at 99 centers for neutralizing and binding antibodies as correlates of risk for, and protection against, infection.
In the week since international travelers were welcomed back to the United States, airlines, nonprofit organizations and travel groups have finally seen an uptick in the digital health passes they had hoped travelers would use since their launch.
American Airlines has been seeing a nearly 10 percent increase in its VeriFLY app usage for travel since the Nov. 8 lifting of U.S. entry restrictions, said spokeswoman Rachel Warner. Tech research firm Apptopia noticed a 5 percent increase in downloads of these kinds of apps from the week before the travel ban was lifted, according to Thomas Grant, the company’s director of equity research.
Travel industry experts credited this rise to the new flood of international travelers.
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