The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new variant has a range of changes.
Chris Fischer, England’s chief medical officer, said on Saturday that the new strain was “spreading faster” and that it was responsible for 60% of new infections in London.
On Monday, an epidemiologist from the World Health Organization said, “We are hearing that it is spreading rapidly by up to 70%.”
Maria Van Kerkov, WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19, said: “What they’re looking at is that the number of reproductions – so this is the number of people who are infected – has increased from 1.1 to 1.5.”
“I just want to put this in terms of 70% growth.”
Van Kerkov said it was not yet clear whether the increase was “associated only with variants,” or whether it was due to human behavior.
The CDC said Tuesday that there is no evidence yet that this type causes a more serious illness or increases the risk of death.
But a strain that spreads faster can lead to more infections, resulting in more hospitalizations and deaths.
Now where is this stress?
The CDC said that as of Tuesday, tensions in the United States had not been identified by sequencing efforts, although U.S. Of the 17 million cases, only about 51,000 have been infected.
“A small portion of the U.S. infections are sequential, given the variable already found in the United States.
Public Health England said backward tracing (using genetic evidence) indicates that the first strain emerged in England in September. It then rotated to a very low level until mid-November.
“Because the virus has been spreading in the UK for some time already, the cat has come out of the bag.” “It’s spread elsewhere, including the United States.”
Who is most affected by this stress?
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that “most of the Covid-19 cases from which this type has been identified have occurred in people under 60 years of age.”
This can be problematic because “when people are asymptomatic, they are usually people under the age of 0,” said Elizabeth Cohen, senior medical correspondent for CNN.
“So this is spreading so fast – or part of the reason – is that a lot of these people don’t show symptoms, so they’re running around and spreading it.”
While serious illness from Kovid-19 is relatively rare in children, “there is a hint [the new strain] Scientist Neil Ferguson, a member of the UK’s New and Filling Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), said … there is a high risk of infecting children.
But he said more data is needed.
How can I protect myself from this new stress?
This new strain means “we have to work a little harder to stop the spread,” Van Kerwow said.
Gounder agreed. “All we really need to do is focus on what we know will prevent this new type from spreading – which is the same thing that usually works against the spread of coronavirus.”
“It’s a mask, it’s a social distance.”
Will the vaccine work against this new strain?
Both the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine and the Modern vaccine have shown an efficacy rate of about 95% in clinical trials. But now many are wondering whether this vaccine will work on different strains of the virus – like the one spreading rapidly in the UK.
Pfizer and Moderna said they are testing their vaccines to see if they work against UK-based stress.
“On the subject of mob immunity, there is always a 60% to 70% debate,” Sahin said.
“But if the virus becomes more efficient in infecting people, we may also need a higher rate of vaccination to ensure we can return to normal life without interruption.”
The novel coronavirus has been mutated before, and both vaccines have worked against virus variations.
“So far, I don’t think there is a single type of vaccine that is resistant to the vaccine,” said Monsef Slow, chief science adviser at Operation Operation Worm Speed.
“We can’t exclude him, but he’s not there anymore.”
How does this stress affect travel?
The UK has no plans to impose a travel ban against the UK, US Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Giroire said on Monday.
British Airways, Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have agreed on the need to test passengers for Covid-1 for passengers on flights from the UK to New York, the government said in a statement.
“This is not really the time to travel,” Gounder said.
CNN’s Zamira Rahim, Jamie Gumbractt, Fred Platgen and Mary Illushina contributed to the report.
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