Scholars explain mysterious disappearance of Delta variant in Japan

Japan’s fifth wave of Covid-19 has virtually disappeared so dramatically that some scientists are puzzled as to why it happened.

One team suggests the highly infectious Delta strain mutated into extinction on the island nation.

In mid-August, Japan experienced a peak in Covid-19 infections, recording over 23,000 new cases per day. Now the metric is just around 170, with deaths attributed to the disease mostly remaining in single digits this month.

The decline has been attributed by many to high vaccination rates, public acceptance of masks, and other factors, but some researchers say the drop was uniquely significant, compared to other nations with similar conditions.

Ituro Inoue, a geneticist at the National Institute of Genetics, believes that Japan had the good fortune of witnessing the Delta strain mostly rooting out other variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus before then eradicating itself. He explained his team’s theory to the Japan Times newspaper this week.

For some time now, Inoue and his fellow scientists were researching mutations of SARS-CoV-2 and how they are affected by the protein nsp14, which is crucial for the reproduction of the virus.

RNA viruses, like the one causing Covid-19, tend to have a very high mutation rate, which helps them quickly adapt to changes in the environment. However, this opens the door for a so-called “error catastrophe,” when bad mutations pile up and finally cause the full extinction of a strain. The protein nsp14 appears to offer a form of error proofreading that helps the virus genome to stay below the threshold of the “error catastrophe.”

In the case of Japan’s fifth wave of Covid-19, the Delta variant’s nsp14 failed at this job, Inoue believes, based on the genetic study of specimens collected from June to October. Contrary to his team’s expectations, there was a lack of genetic diversity, while many samples had many genetic changes in the site called A394V, which is linked to the error-fixing protein.

“We were literally shocked to see the findings,” the researcher told the Japan Times. “The Delta variant in Japan was highly transmissible and [was] keeping other variants out. But as the mutations piled up, we believe it eventually became a faulty virus and it was unable to make copies of itself.”

The theory could be relevant to the previous SARS strain, which was identified in 2003, explaining why it didn’t cause a pandemic. But that would be hard to confirm, since the outbreak ended relatively quickly and didn’t result in the massive collection of genetic data necessary to test the hypothesis.

It’s not clear why Japan had this lucky turn of events, but nothing comparable happened in other East Asian countries like South Korea, where populations are genetically close to that of Japan. Virus mutations similar to those flagged by the scientists have been discovered in at least 24 countries, Inoue said. He and his team plan to publish a paper detailing their findings by the end of November.

Even if the natural extinction theory is confirmed, it is at best a temporary reprieve for the Japanese people. New, more successful strains are likely to eventually find their way into the country, though quarantine measures and immigration control could delay the emergence of new variants in Japan, Inoue believes.

Meanwhile, Tokyo is bracing for a new wave of Covid-19 this winter and is preparing to live with the virus. The government reportedly plans to ease travel restrictions by increasing the number of people it allows to enter the country per day from 3,500 to 5,000.

See more here: rt.com

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Comments (9)

  • Avatar

    very old white guy

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    It never existed.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Greg Spinolae

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    Ivermectin is not banned in Japan.
    Many leading Japanese doctors are recommending its use for Covid
    No 3rd jab (booster) has been done in Japan.
    Huge numbers of prescriptions for Ivermectin have been administered

    Reply

  • Avatar

    MC

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    BS. They’re about 4 months behind the west with vaccinations. Let’s see what this coming month brings.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    GM

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    So it was reported on Principia-Scientific.com weeks ago that “Japan Abandons Vax Policy, Switched to Ivermectin, Ends COVID Craziness”.
    The Story said: In One Month, Japan has wiped Covid out of the country! Their government responded to reports of deaths from vaccine shots, moved to real treatment, and people got better. End of Story!
    In September the deaths from Covid Vaccine jabs were being investigated. The vials were pulled after what the government found. Then the Minister of Health told doctors to prescribe Ivermectin. A month later Covid has all but disappeared from the island.
    PRINCIPIA-SCIENTIFIC.COM – What Happened to the earlier story, which totally contradicts this one?

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Charles Higley

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      Viruses simply do not work as they claim above. They do not compete and then go extinct, particularly as they mutate so rapidly.

      Interesting, also, how the entire article ignores the widespread use of ivermectin in Japan, particularly recently.

      It must be a fun life to be able to simply think that nothing in the world works by principles that have been known for many decades. The resulting inflation from printing a lot of money is just people spending their Covid relief funds. Ban oil and gas production in the US and higher prices are due to OPEC being greedy. Rampant voter fraud is not real, despite the huge irregularities, it’s just that people love a President that hides during campaigns, does no campaigning, and bungles his way through life. Yeah, that believable.

      Reply

  • Avatar

    Edwin

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    Well they have to come up with some narrative that absolutely doesn’t allow the beneficial effect of Ivermectin.
    Genetic “Error Catastrophe” is just that excuse.
    Irregardless, each and every Japanese citizen over the age of 2 months MUST be vaccinated!
    When people argue for Ivermectin and bring up Japan as an example, “Oh no, that was simply due to “genetic error catastrophe” on an isolated society and we can not be sure the whole place will not be re-infected with the even deadlier and more contagious alpha-omega variant.”

    “You just can’t make this $h!t up.”

    Reply

  • Avatar

    JaKo

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    “Ivermectin is not banned in Japan.”
    True, after all, it came from Japan (me thinks); however, it may not be legal in Russia (written by RT) for use against covidism — there you go — see https://c19early.com/ and compare that with Wikipaedia entry on Ivermectin… Further, compare Remdesivir in price and efficacy to Ivermectin while R is still “recommended to treat covidism.”
    Why do THEY lie to us? We know they lie to us. They know that we know that t.l.t.u. We know that they know that we know that t.l.t.u. Why do THEY lie to us?!
    Cheers, JaKo

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Bertie MacBeetle.

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      Because the can and because it works.

      Reply

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