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. 2022 Feb;28(2):415-419.
doi: 10.3201/eid2802.211653.

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.619 and B.1.620 Lineages, South Korea, 2021

Ae Kyung Park, Il-Hwan Kim, Heui Man Kim, Hyeokjin Lee, Nam-Joo Lee, Jeong-Ah Kim, SangHee Woo, Chae Young Lee, Jaehee Lee, Sae Jin Oh, JeeEun Rhee, Cheon-Kwon Yoo, Eun-Jin Kim

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.619 and B.1.620 Lineages, South Korea, 2021

Ae Kyung Park et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

We report the rapid emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 lineages B.1.619 and B.1.620 in South Korea. The surge in frequency in a relatively short time emphasizes the need for ongoing monitoring for new lineages to track potential increases in transmissibility and disease severity and reductions in vaccine efficacy.

Keywords: 2021. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Feb [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2802.211653; B.1.619; B.1.620; COVID-19; Kim HM; Kim I-H; Kim J-A; Lee H; Lee N-J; SARS-CoV-2; South Korea; Suggested citation for this article: Park AK; coronavirus disease; et al. SARS-CoV-2 B.1.619 and B.1.620 lineages; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.619 and B.1.620 lineages, South Korea, 2021. A) Distribution of 7 SARS-CoV-2 lineages in domestic cases over time. Data are shown for lineages A, B.41, B.1.497, B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant), B.1.617.2 (Delta variant), B.1.619.1, and B.1.620. B) Number of sequenced genomes over time, by lineage. C) Logarithmic graph of cumulative cases of variants indexed by days since the first reported case as of July 21, 2021. SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic analysis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 sequences, South Korea. A total of 457 sequences were used to construct the tree, including 37 sequences of B.1.619 lineage and 36 sequences of B.1.620 lineage from GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org). Each sequence was aligned to the reference sequence (Wuhan-Hu-1, GenBank accession no. NC_045512) using Geneious Prime software (https://www.geneious.com) and then manually trimmed to equal lengths. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree was reconstructed using FastTree version 2.1.9 (http://www.microbesonline.org/fasttree), under the general time reversible plus gamma nucleotide substitution model; the phylogenetic tree was visualized using iTOL (https://itol.embl.de). Four variants of concern (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and B.1.617.2), 2 variants of interest (B.1.429 and B.1.617.1), and B.1.497, which were the major lineages of the GH clade in South Korea, are shown. Red indicates South Korea B.1.619 sequences and blue, B.1.620; pink indicates Europe B.1.619 sequences and light blue, B.1.620. Scale bar indicates substitutions per site.
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