The focal S:N501 build is now updated with data from 13 Jan!

There are a total of 247 non-UK & non-South African sequences in 501Y.V1 (B.1.1.7 #b117) & 501Y.V2.

I'll do an additional thread later on, covering S:E484 & the 'Ohio variants'.

1/18

https://t.co/3bdttjKVl4

There are 244 new sequences in 501Y.V1 (B.1.1.7) from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain & USA, as well sequences as from Ecuador and Greece for the first time.

2/18
Greece has 3 new sequences in 501Y.V1 for the first time. They indicate 2 separate introductions.

Ecuador has 2 sequences for the first time. They also indicate 2 separate introductions.

3/18
The USA has 61 new sequences (orange), from Florida, Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania, & New York.

A few of these represent separate introductions. Others form distinct clusters that may indicate ongoing local transmission.

4/18
Israel has 35 new sequences (orange). Some of these show separate introductions, but many link with older sequences, indicating ongoing local transmission.

5/18
The Netherlands has 34 new sequences (orange). A few of these represent separate introductions, but most form a large cluster with older sequences from the Netherlands, indicating ongoing local transmission.

6/18
Portugal has 31 new sequences (orange). Though hard to see in the zoomed-out view, most of these represent separate introductions. There is one case where 2 new seqs are identical to an older one, but this could be a common exposure source.

7/18
Denmark has 20 new sequences (orange). A few of these indicate separate introductions, but must cluster with older sequences in smaller groups or in the very large Danish group previously identified, indicating local transmission.

8/18
Norway has 14 new sequences (orange). Most indicate separate introductions, but a few are identical to or related to an older sequence, which may indicate local transmission.

9/18
Spain has 11 new sequences (orange). All of these indicate separate introductions, though some new sequences link together to form tight clusters. This could indicate local transmission or a common source.

10/18
New Zealand has 10 new sequences (orange). All represent separate introductions, though some new sequences are linked together.

11/18
Singapore has 6 new sequences (orange). Though hard to see in zoomed-out view, most of these indicate separate introductions.

12/18
Italy has 6 new sequences (orange). It's a bit hard to see in the zoomed-out view, but none of these link directly with older samples, indicating separate introductions - though 2 new seqs link together.

13/18
Germany has 4 new sequences (orange). Though hard to see in the zoomed-out view, these all represent separate introductions.

14/18
Australia also has 4 new sequences (orange), including the first from Western Australia. These indicate separate introductions, though 2 of the new sequences are identical (marked in red).

15/18
India has 2 new sequences (orange, one hidden behind the green - pic 1). One is a separate introduction, the other links with a previous sequence (pic 2).

Belgium has 1 new sequence, which links 1 mutation away from a previous sequence (pic 3).

16/18
There are 3 new non-South African sequences in 501Y.V2, from Germany for the first time. They are identical, which may indicate a common exposure.

17/18
The updated country plots will go up soon, and I'll add another thread later on S:E484 & the 'Ohio variants'.

18/18
The updated country plots are now up. As always, be careful interpreting plots as many countries are selectively sequencing S:N501 & S-drop outs (which often increases S:N439), so frequencies are often not representative!

19/18

https://t.co/c7wlQOufTQ

More from Dr Emma Hodcroft

🎉Happy New Year!🎉

To kick off 2021, here's an update on:
- S:N501 variants (501Y.V1/V2) with data from 31 Dec 2020
- 69/70del variants
- 20A.EU1 variant (most prevalent variant in Europe)

(Here are some fireworks that look a bit like phylogenies! 🎆)

1/23


The latest sequences from 31 Dec show new sequences in the S:N501Y.V1 variant (originating from SE England) from Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Canada, the USA, Germany, Switzerland, & India.

2/23

S:N501 link
https://t.co/TfHfPgBEBS

Image link
https://t.co/3aCKv1pAcI


Canada, Germany, & Switzerland all have sequences that fall in 501Y.V1 for the first time, scattered across the tree.

3/23


The USA also has its first 2 sequences that fall in 501Y.V1, from Colorado & California. India also had its first 3 sequences, also from different regions.

In both cases, the sequences are not connected, indicating separate introductions.

4/23


In countries with previous sequences:

6 new sequences from Netherlands, in orange/yellow (green are older).
1 is clearly separate - zooming in (& in divergence view, coloured by country) it is harder to determine the relationship between the others.

5/23

More from Society

Tomorrow, January 6th, MAGA chuds, Proud Boys, and white supremacists are planned to descend on Washington D.C. to contest the election. Among them will be NSC-131, a New England based neo-Nazi organization. Let's welcome them by saying hi to one of their members, Eddie Stuart!


Edward Stuart, from Chester, New Hampshire, has been a member of Nationalist Social Club (NSC) since the very beginning and is a staple participant in their actions. He is known in NSC chats as "Carl Jung" and is well connected in the New England Nazi scene.
2/


NSC-131 is a neo-Nazi group that was started in Massachusetts in early 2020 by Chris Hood. You can learn more about NSC and it's members in these threads:


Eddie describes his ideology as "Esoteric Hitlerism" which is an occult form of Nazism that literally worships Adolf Hitler as a god, or, specifically, as an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. Here is Ed holding the RigVeda with some of his occult Nazi pals. Interesting Ed!
4/


Much of this ideological insight was gained from Eddie's Twitter, where he originally used his "Carl Jung" persona and reposts explicit neo-fascist content and racist memes. In one edited picture, Eddie can be seen at an NSC event in late June 2020 holding a Nazi Sonnenrad flag
5

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Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇

It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details):
https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha

I've read it so you needn't!

Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.

The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.

Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.