The Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Variant(s) and Its Impact on the Prevalence of COVID-19 Cases in the Nabatieh Region, Lebanon

Abstract

Background: An outbreak of an unknown respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China, in December 2019 and was referred to as coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Soon after, it was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. SARS-CoV-2 mainly infects the respiratory tract with different outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe critical illness leading to death. Different SARS-CoV-2 variants are emerging of which three have raised concerns worldwide due to their high transmissibility among populations. Objective: To study the prevalence of COVID-19 in the region of Nabatieh-South Lebanon during the past year and assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their effect on the spread of infection during times of lockdown. Methods: In our study, 37,474 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected and analyzed for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus in suspected patients attending a tertiary health care center in South Lebanon during the period between 16 March 2020 and 21 February 2021. Results: The results demonstrated a variation in the prevalence rates ranging from less than 1% during full lockdown of the country to 8.4% upon easing lockdown restrictions and reaching 27.5% after the holidays and 2021 New Year celebrations. Interestingly, a new variant(s) appeared starting January 2021 with a significant positive association between the prevalence of positive tests and the percentage of the variant(s). Conclusions: Our results indicate that the lockdown implemented by the Lebanese officials was an effective intervention to contain COVID-19 spread. Our study also showed that lifting lockdown measures during the holidays, which allowed indoor crowded gatherings to occur, caused a surge in COVID-19 cases and rise in the mortality rates nationwide. More importantly, we confirmed the presence of a highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) circulating in the Lebanese community from at least January 2021 onwards.

Risk Markers of COVID-19, a Study from South-Lebanon

“…Regarding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the period of the study, our results are congruent with a previous study performed by our team in which the number of positive cases was low in the period between September 2020 and December 2020 during which the Lebanese authorities enforced a lockdown, and the number of cases drastically increased in the period of January 2021 after Christmas' and holidays' celebrations due to crowded gatherings in closed spaces [1]. In our previous study, we also identified a potential SARS-CoV-2 variant which is directly correlated with the increase in COVID-19 cases [1], a fact which explains the increased prevalence of the disease during February and March 2021. On the contrary, the strict decline in the number of cases in the period from March 2021 till July 2021 can be linked to three main reasons.…”

“…The novel Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID- 19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has transmitted rapidly across the world, causing over 323 million confirmed cases and over 5.5 million deaths worldwide as of 16 January 2022 (WHO 2022). Lebanon has suffered a surge of cases during the first and second waves of the pandemic, especially during holiday seasons [1]. As of 25 March 2022, Lebanon has recorded 1,089,419 confirmed cases and 10,263 deaths with 10,760 new cases detected only on 3 February 2022 [2,3].…”

Omicron-BA.1 Dispersion Rates in Mexico Varied According to the Regional Epidemic Patterns and the Diversity of Local Delta Subvariants

“…Notably, the gene coding for the spike protein (S), which mediates virus cell entry via ACE2 recognition, harbors thirty nonsynonymous substitutions, three deletions, and one insertion. The accumulation of genetic changes in S has been related to an increase in viral transmission rate compared to the original strain [ 8 , 9 ]. In the case of Omicron, it also exhibits a transmission advantage against previous VOCs [ 10 ].…”

Elucidating the role of environmental management of forests, air quality, solid waste and wastewater on the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2

“…In terms of worldwide research, Bangladesh and Central African Republic are the only least developed countries found to test indoor air for SARS-CoV-2 ( Harries et al, 2020 ; Akter et al, 2021 ; UNDESA, 2021). India, Iran, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia and Nigeria are the only developing countries found to test or speculate for indoor SARS-CoV-2 ( Kwon et al, 2020 ; Adeniran et al, 2021 ; Alkalamouni et al, 2021 ; Bazzazpour et al 2021 ; Chau et al, 2021 ; Dubey et al, 2021 ; Hu et al, 2021; Hu wang et al, 2021 ; Nor et al, 2021 ; Noureddine et al, 2021 ; Passos et al 2021 ; Pochtovyi et al, 2021 ; Salihefendic et al, 2021 ; World Bank, 2021 ).…”