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Vienna A new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus could partly explain the rising rates of infection in Britain. The mutation is spreading exponentially, especially in the south-east of England, reports Health Secretary Matt Hancock on the BBC. 60 local authorities have registered Covid infections with the new mutation, but there is no indication of a more difficult course of the disease and no reason to assume that existing vaccines against the variant are not effective.
“We count more than 1,000 cases, particularly in London, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire, where we do not yet know the true extent of the spread and we do not yet know where the mutation originally originated,” Hancock told the British Parliament Monday night .
Sars-CoV-2 produces mutations in its spike protein, with which it infects healthy cells and targeted by Covid-19 vaccines. “Virus changes are part of evolution. We should always wait for new variants to appear and then disappear again,” explains Alan McNally of the University of Birmingham. The question of whether a virus changes its behavior as a result of the mutation is relevant to fighting disease.
