In the Christian faith, baptism is a ritual that signifies a change of life, a new beginning. In some cases, the person will take on a new name. It is a multi-step process. The first is internal, invisible to the outside world. The person searches within themselves and resolves to change. Then they make the declaration, usually at a ceremony where there is often much rejoicing and embracing of the new person. But that is not enough, the church often arranges a support group to help the person along in their new path.
Just like human beings, indeed like all creatures, viruses change over time. The coronavirus, officially named SARS-CoV-2 is no exception. A virus is tiny compared to a human being. Many times smaller than a human cell. For example, the genetic code of the coronavirus is 30,000 characters long. In comparison, the human genetic code, found in each cell, is more than 3 billion characters.
A single human body has billions of cells. The virus is so tiny that it does not even have space to create another virus. It has to use the human cell genetic machinery to make another virus. It does this by infecting the cell, taking over the machinery used to create new cells, then injecting the viral genetic code to make another virus.
The human cell can make many copies of the virus, but not make exact copies. After all, it is human. And so we get billions of new copies being made, when a person is infected, each virus copy a little different from the mother copy. One scary thing about the coronavirus is that this process can be silent. In 80 per cent of those infected, there are no symptoms that the person is infected and making copies of the virus, transmitting to others.
Most of the tiny differences in the copies do not change the character of the virus, but once in a while, a copy emerges that is different enough to affect some property of the virus; how it is spreads, how severe the disease is, how it interferes with the body’s immunity and whether the public health measures in place are still effective against it.
The way scientists detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants is to track the changes from the original virus genetic code. The variant is similar to the way humans are similar to other apes. Humans, chimpanzees and baboons all belong to the ape family. The chimpanzee shares 99 per cent of the genetic code with human beings. In comparison, baboons are only 94 per cent related to humans.
So, humans, chimpanzees and baboons are variants of apes. But over time genetic changes lead to distinct differences in appearance. However, some behaviour patterns may be similar in apes when compared to say cows or goats, though not for all people. So a variant of Covid-19 has something new that the original did not do well, just the same way a chimpanzee might be better than a human at climbing a tree and that gives it an advantage in some situations.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak began in December 2020, scientists have detected many variants of the coronavirus. Most are mainly of scientific interest and are given technical names such as B.1.351 or GH/501y.V2 and B.1.612.2 or G/478K.V1. Difficult to remember or introduce properly, so since May 2021, WHO has simplified the naming so the former is now Beta (the variant discovered first in South Africa) and the latter is Delta ( the variant discovered first in India).
The Delta variant is now racing across the world, detected in more than 80 countries. In India, the projection is that the number of deaths due to Covid-19 will double in the three months between May and July 2021. That is how strong the Delta variant is compared to the previous three variants. In East Africa, Uganda has already locked down. Western Kenya is suffering and we must assume it is a matter of time before it affects the rest of the country.
Whenever someone declares that they have decided to lead a new life, we should probe. What is it about their behaviour that signals that indeed, they have changed? We can only judge, not by what they say, but what they do. But often a person cannot sustain the change alone. So they go to church and after the ceremony rely on the support of others.
In a similar fashion declaration of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus anywhere in the world should cause us to sit up and review what we are doing. Baptism of a coronavirus variant means that it intends to lead a different life from previous variants. For the new variant to succeed, it relies on us, the human beings that spread it, to support it.
Should we be part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus support group? No! The key to preventing the spread of Covid-19 are simple steps, social distance, wear masks and frequent hand wash. Social distance means not meeting in social groups be it funeral, wedding or casual. It is sad, the only consolation is knowing that it makes the virus sadder still.
