Germany’s most famous virologist changed his mind about virus mutations overnight

Opinion changed after a new assessment by UK authorities confirmed that the mutated strain of coronavirus was spreading rapidly in the UK, especially southern England, reports thelocal.de.

Drosten, director of the Institute for Virology at the Charité Clinic in Berlin, shared the tweets with the UK Public Health Agency.

“Unfortunately, the data does not promise anything good,” he wrote on the social network, but added that the situation is not only bad. – There are also positive things: so far, the number of cases caused by the new strain is increasing only where there have been many of them or if there has been growth. Therefore, reducing contacts also helps combat the spread of the new variety. “

According to the UK authorities, the new variant of the virus reaches up to 70%. more contagious compared to the previous one.

On December 21, Drosten urged people not to panic over the new strain.

“I’m not overly concerned at the moment,” he said. “There may be scientific surprises, but I didn’t really start to worry.”

On the other hand, he called the decision not to admit the newcomers from the UK as appropriate due to the current uncertainty. According to the virologist, when more information is available, politicians will be able to respond accordingly.

“The virus has been circulating in the south of England since September and was detected in October. It is now found in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and even Australia. Why shouldn’t it be here too?” Ch. Ch. , Director of the Charité Institute for Virology in Berlin, told Deutschlandfunk on Monday morning Drostenas.

However, the professor has yet to panic about this, arguing that the new strain of the virus has not yet spread widely in the Netherlands and that similar things should happen in other countries.

At the same time, the virologist acknowledged that “the information situation is not yet clear”, so he did not want to downplay the risk.

“Naturally the question is: has this strain of the virus been brought to the surface by a new wave (of infections, ed.) That is now emerging in the region (south of England and London, ed.), Or perhaps caused by the new virus? “

Researchers: there are indications that the new strain is more contagious for children

The rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom (UK) has mutations that could make children as susceptible to infection as adults, researchers said Monday.

Researchers from the Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group, following the new strain, told reporters the latest news, noting that the new strain was rapidly becoming dominant in the UK and could soon take root across the country, it reports. Reuters.

“We strongly believe that this strain is spreading faster than other coronavirus variants currently available in the UK,” said Peter Horby, Chairman of the Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group and Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford.

“There are indications that the new strain is more contagious to children,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial College London and an infectious disease epidemiologist who is part of the Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group.

“We have not yet identified the reasons, but the available data confirms this speculation,” Ferguson explained. “More information will be needed to tell us how the new variety will perform in the future.”

A mutated strain of coronavirus has been detected in the UK, which scientists say is up to 70% more contagious than other variants of the virus circulating in the country, some countries have been quick to close borders with the UK, and Tight restrictions have been put in place across much of the country during Christmas.

Wendy Barclay, another professor at the Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group and a virology expert at Imperial College London, said that one of the mutations in the new strain was linked to changes in the way the virus enters human cells. , so that “children are equally as susceptible to the new variant as adults.”

“So we should see an increase in the number of infected children,” Barclay predicted.

WHO to convene meeting of European Member States to discuss new strain of coronavirus

The European Division of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it would invite its member states to a meeting on how to combat an outbreak of a new strain of coronavirus found in the United Kingdom.

Hans Kluge, director of the WHO European department, said on Twitter that the organization is closely monitoring the spread of the new strain and will “convene a meeting of member states to discuss risk interpretation, mitigation and testing strategies,” but did not provide specific dates.

Mr. Kluge added that it would be “prudent to restrict passenger flows until we have more information”, but cautioned that “the necessary supply chains and necessary travel should be possible.”

The WHO European Region includes 53 countries, including Russia and several Central Asian states. Almost 24 million registered in the region. COVID-19 cases and more than 500 thousand. deaths from this disease.

Over the weekend, the WHO European Division called on its members to step up measures against the new strain of the virus and “expand the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viruses as much as possible and make the data obtained publicly available, especially when the same worrisome mutations are found. “

Dozens of countries, from India to Argentina, fear a new strain of the virus, which is estimated to be up to 70 percent infectious. higher than the most common varieties so far prevalent, banned flights from the UK.

According to the WHO, there is currently no evidence that the new strain of the virus causes a different degree of severity of the disease.