Why does the new Corona virus strain epidemiologists?

The appearance of a new strain of the “Corona” virus in the United Kingdom, which is more contagious than other strains, raises the concern of epidemiologists, which caused the suspension of flights from many countries from British territory, on Sunday.

British government scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said (Saturday) that this new strain, in addition to its rapid spread, has also become the “dominant” form of the virus after causing a “sharp increase” in cases requiring hospitalization in December, as reported by the French press agency.

This strain may have appeared in mid-September in London or Kent (south-east), he said.

“The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group is now considering that this new strain may spread faster,” Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

This view is based on the observation that “a sharp increase in the number of injuries and cases requiring hospitalization in London and the South East, compared to the rest of England in recent days,” said Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, on the “Science Media Center” website.

“It seems that this increase is due to the new strain,” he added, referring to the information provided by the health authorities.

However, “there is no evidence at this time that this new strain causes a high mortality rate or affects vaccines and treatments, but work is underway to confirm this,” according to Chris Whitty.

The information on this new strain is very disturbing, Professor Peter Openshaw, an immune system specialist at Imperial College London, told the “Science Media Center” website, especially as “it appears to be 40 to 70 percent higher. transmissible”.

“This is very bad news,” said Professor John Edmonds of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “This strain appears to be much more contagious than the previous strain.”

French geneticist Axel Kan said on his Facebook page that so far, “300,000 Cove-2 strains have been detected in the world.”

The new strain carries a mutation called “N501Y” in the “spikey” coronavirus protein, which is present on its surface and allows it to adhere to human cells to penetrate it.

According to Dr Julian Tang from the University of Leicester, “This strain spread sporadically earlier this year outside the UK, in Australia between June and July, the US in July and Brazil in April.”

Professor Julian Hiscox from the University of Liverpool noted that “Corona viruses are mutating all the time, so it is not surprising that new strains of SARS-Cove-2 have appeared … The most important thing is to know if this strain it has characteristics that will affect human health and diagnosis. And vaccines ».

Axel Kahn noted that “the higher the number of infections, the greater the chances of a random mutation of the virus and the higher the mutation rate.”

The spread of this new strain of the Corona virus led the British authorities to re-impose blockade measures in London and part of England (16 million people).

British Health Minister Matt Hancock said (Sunday): “Unfortunately the new strain is out of control … we have to regain control of the situation and the only way to do that was to restrict social contact … It will be very difficult to keep it under control until a vaccine is distributed. “

And after the Netherlands suspended all flights from the UK on Sunday, Germany is “seriously” considering a similar measure that also affects South Africa.

Likewise, Belgium will suspend flights and train traffic from Great Britain from midnight (Sunday). Italy will also suspend flights with the United Kingdom after the discovery of the new strain of the Corona virus, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced. As for France, “it is closely monitoring the situation.”