A quick thread on the new variant, pulling together information from news sources, twitter, genomic databases, and word from well-placed peers.

Cabinet has been summoned for call at lunchtime. Lots of concern about new data on virus in parts of England, feels like fast moving situation. https://t.co/308YsJEVGw
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) December 19, 2020

The new variant in the UK consists of several mutations in the spike protein, including ΔH69/ΔV70 deletions & other receptor binding domain mutations such as N501Y.

The variant is described here in this pre-print from @GuptaR_lab.

https://t.co/ui2U1r1ANA

The ΔH69/ΔV70 variant continues to increase quite rapidly as a proportion of overall positives (roughly doubling in the last 2 to three days), and is apparently now the dominant strain in test positives in some regions.

Extensive efforts have gone into enhanced surveillance for the ΔH69/ΔV70 deletion with and without RBD mutations, and it is good that we are aware of this.

There is a need for calm and rational thinking, and more evidence is needed.

But the early data is certainly concerning

More from News

$Aldous Huxley's Ghost\u2122$

Aldous Huxley's Ghost™...
@AF632

Hard to believe how many times @Newsweek has had to put out corrections. A thread.

:111% :I-AM:SOVEREIGN-...
@BenjaminABock

Is this the second BOOM?

Gaza strip being bombed ~ 1 hour ago
Absolutely 0 media coverage locally or internationally pic.twitter.com/ZLwWcQDwXb
— Nabeel Yakzan (@MarxistBastard) December 26, 2020

video

\u0647\u0644 \u0647\u0630\u0627 \u0647\u0648 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0630\u064a \u062a\u062f\u0639\u0648 \u0639\u0644\u064a\u0647 \u0625\u0633\u0631\u0627\u0626\u064a\u0644 \u0645\u0646\u0630 \u0627\u062d\u062a\u0644\u0627\u0644\u0647\u0627 \u0644\u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u0636\u061f
\u0627\u0644\u0642\u0635\u0641 \u0627\u0644\u0627\u0633\u0631\u0627\u0626\u064a\u0644\u064a \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u063a\u0632\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u064a\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0627\u0636\u064a\u0629#\u063a\u0632\u0629 #\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0637\u0628\u064a\u0639_\u062e\u064a\u0627\u0646\u0629_\u0644\u0644\u0627\u0646\u0633\u0627\u0646\u064a\u0629
Is this the peace that Israel claims to have spread since its occupation of this land?
The Israeli bombing of Gaza last night#Gaza #\u063a\u0632\u0629_\u062a\u062d\u062a_\u0627\u0644\u0642\u0635\u0641 pic.twitter.com/8ouV1nuXc7
— \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0648\u064a\u062c\u064a (@mohammed500s) December 26, 2020

Ned Foley
@Nedfoley

1/1 On @seanhannity last night (at 5:56 of this clip), @SenTedCruz said that the Hayes-Tilden Commission was "charged with reviewing the evidence and making a determination about the disputed ballots." That's incorrect. The Commission was tasked with determining which rival ...

Tomorrow is an important day. We have an obligation to protect the integrity of the election & our democratic system. That\u2019s why 10 of my colleagues & I are calling for an Electoral Commission to conduct an emergency 10-day audit to examine voter fraud allegations. pic.twitter.com/fExTpxlmKl
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 6, 2021

2/2 ... group of electors was appointed by the authority within state government entitled to make that appointment at the time the electors cast their votes on the constitutionally required day. Justice Joseph Bradley, who was held the intentionally tiebreaking seat on the ...

3/3 ... 15-member Commission, explained his decision in favor of Hayes by saying that it was NOT the Commission's authority (NOR Congress's, from which the Commission derived its subsidiary power) to determine whether the state properly counted its popular vote. Instead, ...

4/4 ...it was the Commission's job to figure out which of the competing claims was correct concerning who had authority under state law to make the determination upon which the appointment of electors would be based. For Florida, Bradley ruled that the state's canvassing board...

5/5... had this authority at the time the electors voted & thus Congress was obligated to accept the votes cast by the electors that the canvassing board had appointed, and this was true even if the canvassing board's appointment was based on a mistake or even fraud affecting ...

leekern
@leekern13

As the @guardian continues their antisemitic game of contorting everything in existence to attack Israel, (in this instance perpetuating a libel of Jews as disease spreaders withholding vaccines), here are some other headlines I’ve written for them to keep up their sleeves:

Israel’s national anthem sung in Hebrew - not Japanese - another low for this racist state

Israeli of the year award goes to Israeli - not Frenchman - is there no end to Israel’s racism?

Israeli sports budget spent on Israelis - not on Scottish skateboard parks. What would we expect?

Diego Maradonna doesn’t even place in list of top ten greatest ever Israelis. An insult to world’s football fans. FIFA must act...

Asra Q. Nomani
@AsraNomani

ALERT In hours starting 12 PM ET Fri night / 9 AM Karachi time, Omar Sheikh + 3 men convicted in Danny Pearl's murder will try to walk out of jail. Ruth + @YudaPearl ask the govt of Pakistan to stop this miscarriage of #JusticeforDanielPearl. cc: @imrankhanpti @realdonaldtrump

1/How did we get here? Born in 1973, Omar Sheikh, a British-Pakistani dropout from the London School of Economics became radicalized at Salafi mosques in London in the early 1990s. He vowed to become a jihadi. He went to Pakistan to wage jihad. And kidnap.

2/ 1994, Omar Sheikh went to India for a militant group, and he used the fake name "Rohit Sharma" to kidnap four tourists, including an American, Bela Nuss, from Connaught Place in Delhi. He was caught by Delhi police and sent to Tihar Jail.

3/ Dec. 24, 1999, militants hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal, and they demanded the release of 4 men from jail in India. One was militant leader Masood Azhar. Another: Omar Sheikh. On Dec. 31, 1999, they were freed. Omar was 26.

4/ After Sept. 11, 2001, Daniel Pearl went to Pakistan with his wife, Mariane, to report on the 9/11 attacks. On Jan. 6, 2002, Danny started chasing a story about a Sheikh Gilani. Omar Sheikh pretended to be the cleric's student. Their paths now crossed.

Department List of UCAS-China PROFESSORs for ANSO, CSC and UCAS (fully or partial) Scholarship Acceptance
1) UCAS School of physical sciences Professor
https://t.co/9X8OheIvRw
2) UCAS School of mathematical sciences Professor

3) UCAS School of nuclear sciences and technology
https://t.co/nQH8JnewcJ
4) UCAS School of astronomy and space sciences
https://t.co/7Ikc6CuKHZ
5) UCAS School of engineering

6) Geotechnical Engineering Teaching and Research Office
https://t.co/jBCJW7UKlQ
7) Multi-scale Mechanics Teaching and Research Section
https://t.co/eqfQnX1LEQ
😎 Microgravity Science Teaching and Research

9) High temperature gas dynamics teaching and research section
https://t.co/tVIdKgTPl3
10) Department of Biomechanics and Medical Engineering
https://t.co/ubW4xhZY2R
11) Ocean Engineering Teaching and Research

12) Department of Dynamics and Advanced Manufacturing
https://t.co/42BKXEugGv
13) Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering Teaching and Research Office
https://t.co/pZdUXFTvw3
14) Power Machinery and Engineering Teaching and Research

Dr. Thomas Binder, MD
@Thomas_Binder

1/12

RT-PCR corona (test) scam

Symptomatic people are tested for one and only one respiratory virus. This means that other acute respiratory infections are reclassified as

4/10

...indication, first of all that testing for a (single) respiratory virus is done outside of surveillance systems or need for specific therapy, but even so the lack of consideration of Ct, symptoms and clinical findings when interpreting its result. https://t.co/gHH6kwRdZG
— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) October 22, 2020

2/12

It is tested exquisitely with a hypersensitive non-specific RT-PCR test / Ct >35 (>30 is nonsense, >35 is madness), without considering Ct and clinical context. This means that more acute respiratory infections are reclassified as

6/10

The neither validated nor standardised hypersensitive RT-PCR test / Ct 35-45 for SARS-CoV-2 is abused to mislabel (also) other diseases, especially influenza, as COVID-19.https://t.co/AkFIfTCTkS
— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) October 22, 2020

3/12

The Drosten RT-PCR test is fabricated in a way that each country and laboratory perform it differently at too high Ct and that the high rate of false positives increases massively due to cross-reaction with other (corona) viruses in the "flu

External peer review of the RTPCR test to detect SARS-CoV-2 reveals 10 major scientific flaws at the molecular and methodological level: consequences for false positive results.https://t.co/mbNY8bdw1p pic.twitter.com/OQBD4grMth
— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) November 29, 2020

4/12

Even asymptomatic, previously called healthy, people are tested (en masse) in this way, although there is no epidemiologically relevant asymptomatic transmission. This means that even healthy people are declared as COVID

Thread web\u2b06\ufe0f\u2b07\ufe0f

The fabrication of the "asymptomatic (super) spreader" is the coronation of the total nons(ci)ense in the belief system of #CoronasWitnesses.

Asymptomatic transmission 0.7%; 95% CI 0%-4.9% - could well be 0%!https://t.co/VeZTzxXfvT
— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) December 16, 2020

5/12

Deaths within 28 days after a positive RT-PCR test from whatever cause are designated as deaths WITH COVID. This means that other causes of death are reclassified as

8/8

By the way, who the f*** created this obviously (almost) worldwide definition of #CoronaDeath?

This is not only medical malpractice, this is utterly insane!https://t.co/FFsTx4L2mw
— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) March 24, 2020