Big Concerns Over New UK Virus Strain: Is It Resistant To Vaccines? Big Concerns Over New UK Virus Strain: Is It Resistant To Vaccines? The new mutation, or variant, was first detected in southeast England in September and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in London and other regions in Britain.
Updated: December 21, 2020 11:26 am IST
UK is one of the first to point a specific coronavirus variant for surge in infections (Representational)
London:
Faced with a newly emerging coronavirus mutation with significantly faster transmission rates, Britain on Saturday announced tightened pandemic restrictions that returned London and parts of the country to virtual lockdown and reversed earlier promises for relaxed rules over the holidays.
Britain tightens lockdowns over virus mutation with ‘significantly faster’ transmission rates William Booth
Replay Video UP NEXT LONDON Faced with a newly emerging coronavirus mutation with significantly faster transmission rates, Britain on Saturday announced tightened pandemic restrictions that returned London and parts of the country to virtual lockdown and reversed earlier promises for relaxed rules over the holidays. The new mutation, or variant, was first detected in southeast England in September and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in London and other regions in Britain. Experts said it does not appear more deadly or resistant to vaccines. At a news conference from 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant “may be up to 70 percent more transmissible” than previous versions of the virus here.
Vanessa Chalmers, Digital Health Reporter
21 Dec 2020, 14:45
Updated: 21 Dec 2020, 15:31
THE new strain of Covid is in every corner of the UK already, maps reveal, as fears of its ability to spread at a rapid rate.
Each nation has reported cases caused by the variant, which is 70 per cent more contagious than the original coronavirus type.
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How any people are estimated to have Covid caused by genes related to the new strain - ORF1ab and N genes - in each part of the UK over time
What proportion of cases are caused by the new strain?
In the United Kingdom and several other countries, a disconcerting cluster of genetic changes has been detected in the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to all but cancel Christmas in Britain.
At least 1,619 samples of the virus collected from infected Britons contained a distinctive set of 17 genetic alterations, including three that appear to make the virus easier to transmit from person to person and improve its ability to sneak past the immune system’s defenses.
The changes in the coronavirus’s RNA were detailed in a report by British researchers who use time-stamped genetic sequences of the virus to track the pandemic’s progress. The COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium said the “unexpectedly large” number of changes, and their potential influence on key parts of the virus, require “urgent laboratory characterisation and enhanced genomic surveillance worldwide.”