Early detection of community acquired of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.351 in Hong Kong

Alan K L Tsang; Gannon C K Mak; Peter K C Cheng; Peter C W Yip; Ken H L Ng; Edman T K Lam; Rickjason C W Chan; Dominic N C Tsang

doi:10.1016/j.jcvp.2021.100029

Early detection of community acquired of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.351 in Hong Kong

J Clin Virol Plus. 2021 Sep;1(3):100029. doi: 10.1016/j.jcvp.2021.100029. Epub 2021 Jun 14.

Authors

Alan K L Tsang¹, Gannon C K Mak¹, Peter K C Cheng¹, Peter C W Yip¹, Ken H L Ng¹, Edman T K Lam¹, Rickjason C W Chan¹, Dominic N C Tsang¹

Affiliation

¹ All from Microbiology Division, Public Health Laboratory Services Branch, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, 9/F, Public Health Laboratory center, 382 Nam Cheong Street, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Abstract

Background: Prior to this report, variants of concern for SARS-CoV-2 were only detected from imported cases in Hong Kong.

Objective: Multiple cases of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.351 have been identified in local community. We reported the phylogenetic relationship of these cases.

Study design: SARS-CoV-2 cases were screened for the key non-synonymous substitutions in spike protein by different assays. Preliminary positive cases were further tested by whole genome sequencing.

Results: From Dec 2020 to May 2021, 55 SARS-CoV-2 cases belonged to lineage B.1.351. Among them, eight genomes were clustered together, all of them were local cases with epidemiological link.

Conclusions: To track variants of SARS-CoV-2 and to allow early implementation of control measures, SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance must be consistently performed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Community acquired; Hong Kong; Lineage B.1.351; SARS-CoV-2; Whole genome sequencing.