Kappa variant is a variant of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

, the

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

that causes

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. It is one of the three sublineages of Pango lineage B.1.617. The SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant is also known as lineage B.1.617.1 and was first detected in India in December 2020. By the end of March 2021, the Kappa sub-variant accounted for more than half of the sequences being submitted from India. On 1 April 2021, it was designated a Variant Under Investigation (VUI-21APR-01) by Public Health England.

Mutations

File:SARS-CoV-2_Kappa_variant.svg, Amino acid mutations of SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant plotted on a genome map of SARS-CoV-2 with a focus on the spike. The Kappa variant has three notable alterations in the amino-acid sequences, all of which are in the virus's

spike protein In virology, a spike protein or peplomer protein is a protein that forms a large structure known as a spike or peplomer projecting from the surface of an enveloped virus. as cited in The proteins are usually glycoproteins that form dimers or ...

code. The three notable substitutions are: L452R, E484Q, P681R *

L452R There are many variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Some are believed, or have been stated, to be of particular importance due to their potenti ...

. The substitution at position 452, a leucine-to-arginine substitution. This exchange confers stronger affinity of the spike protein for the ACE2 receptor along with decreased recognition capability of the immune system. * E484Q. The substitution at position 484, a glutamic acid-to-glutamine substitution. This alteration confers the variant stronger binding potential to

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is an enzyme that can be found either attached to the membrane of cells (mACE2) in the intestines, kidney, testis, gallbladder, and heart or in a soluble form (sACE2). Both membrane bound and soluble ACE2 a ...

, as well as better ability to evade hosts' immune systems. * P681R. The substitution at position 681, a proline-to-arginine substitution. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) also list a fourth spike mutation of interest: * D614G. This is a substitution at position 614, an aspartic acid-to-glycine substitution. Other variants which have the D614G mutation include the Beta and

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

variants, and the mutation is associated with increased infectivity. The two other mutations which can be found closer to either end of the spike region are T95I and Q1071H.

History

International detection

The Kappa variant was first identified in India in December 2020. By 11 May 2021, the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

Weekly Epidemiological Update had reported 34 countries with detections of the subvariant, however by 25 May 2021, the number of countries had risen to 41. , the United Kingdom had detected a total of 418 confirmed cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant. On 6 June 2021, a cluster of 60 cases identified in the Australian city of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

were linked to the Kappa variant. According to

GISAID GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) is a global science initiative and primary source established in 2008 that provides open access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pan ...

in July 2021, India had submitted more genetic samples of the Kappa variant than any other country.

Community transmission

Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...

technical briefing paper of 22 April 2021 reported that 119 cases of the sub-variant had been identified in England with a concentration of cases in the London area and the regions of the North West and East of England. Of the 119 cases, 94 had an established link to travel, 22 cases were still under investigation, but the remaining 3 cases were identified as not having any known link to travel. On 2 June,

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

reported that at least 1 in 10 of the cases in the outbreak in the Australian state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

were due to contact with strangers and that

community transmission In medicine, public health, and biology, transmission is the passing of a pathogen causing communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to a particular individual or group, regardless of whether the other individual was previou ...

was involved with clusters of the Kappa variant. However, infectious disease expert, Professor Greg Dore, said that the Kappa variant was behaving "the same as we've seen before" in relation to other variants in Australia. Vaccine efficacy Vaccines are effective against the Kappa variant, albeit to a lower extent than against the original strain. A study conducted by Oxford University in June 2021 said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were effective against the Kappa and Delta variants, suggesting that the current vaccines offer protection against these variants, although with slight reductions in neutralization.

Covaxin Covaxin (codenamed as BBV152) is a whole inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology. As of October 2021, 110.6 million ...

was also found to be effective against the Kappa variant (B.1.617.1) as for other variants. The

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine The Moderna COVID19 vaccine ( INN: elasomeran), sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomed ...

was also found to be effective against the Kappa variant, albeit with a 3.3-3.4 fold reduction in neutralization.

Statistics

References