Mar 11 2021 Read 1487 Times Author: Professor Martin Michaelis and Dr Mark Wass on behalf of University of Kent Free to read Unlock As we are seeing many novel Covid-19 variants around the world, Professor Martin Michaelis and Dr Mark Wass of University of Kent’s School of Biosciences explain why this may be happening and what these new variants may mean: ‘After almost a year, in which SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has not seemed to change its properties, troubling new variants of the virus seem to have only emerged in the last few weeks. ‘Although viruses like SARS-CoV-2 have high mutation rates, they may not change their features until there is a substantial selection pressure that favours new variants. One such selection pressure is caused by an increasing level of immunity in a population. Hence, it is no surprise that novel variants are found in places with high levels of COVID-19 spread or COVID-19 vaccination programmes, such as the UK, Brazil and South Africa.