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At the moment, the most concerning factor is that the strain is rapidly replacing other versions of the virus: In the UK there are places where this new version is now the most common form of transmission.. Laboratory tests have determined that some of the mutations in this strain increase the ability of the virus to infect cells.
Despite this, there is no absolute certainty about a greater transmissibility of the strain among the population. The fact that it began to air more frequently in London. it may only be due to the lifting of restrictions that the British capital recently adopted, making the population more relaxed and facilitating infections. Although Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the strain is 70 percent more transmissible than the original virus, several scientists have given the BBC station lower or higher numbers than that.
London is precisely one of the places where the strain, first detected in September, causes the most concern. Right now, nearly two-thirds of active Covid-19 cases in that city were caused by the new variant.
This SARS-CoV-2 mutation is believed to appeared in a patient in the UK with a weakened immune system and that, therefore, it facilitated the mutation of the virus, or that it was imported from a country with less capacity to identify and monitor new strains.
The variant can now be found throughout the UK, except Northern Ireland, and is highly concentrated in London and southern England. Meanwhile, cases have been detected in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, apparently imported from British territory.
“Thousands of mutations have already occurred”
Several European countries quickly decided to ban flights to and from the UK to prevent the new strain from arriving or increasing in their territories. This was the case in Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Australia, however, said it did not plan to announce such bans. It will only require passengers arriving from the UK to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel.
“Thousands of mutations of the new coronavirus have already occurred. There is no definitive evidence that this is a significant change “, explained to guardian Paul Kelly, Australian Health Director.
“Recently more transmission has been detected in the south of England and this could be associated with the virus. The infectious agent has changed a bit, but a lot of people have been moving in that region. Furthermore, it is winter ”, said the expert, seeking to justify the increase in transmission of the new strain with the behavior of the population.
Another specialist heard by the guardian noted that although the strain detected in the UK actually made it to Australia, the mutation found in the Australian state of New South Wales is completely different from the British one.
This is further proof that the appearance of new strains of SARS-CoV-2 is nothing new. In fact, the virus initially detected in Wuhan, China, in December, is not the same that is currently found in most of the world.
The mutation known as D614G was the one that emerged in February in Europe and became the most dominant form of the virus worldwide. Another mutation, called A222V, spread during the summer in Europe and has been linked to travelers who have spent holidays in Spain.
Vaccines must be effective against a new strain.
The severity of the most recent mutation is still being studied, but there is no evidence that the strain in question makes the infection more deadly. However, if it is transmitted more easily, the greater number of infections can proportionally lead to a greater number of deaths.
Even if the new strain is more dangerous, there is one factor that could bring the population to rest: Any of the three vaccines developed against Covid-19 and which are beginning to be administered should be effective against the new mutation.
Vaccines train the immune system so it can attack different parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and therefore should work even if that virus has mutations.
Still, as more different strains appear vaccines may need to be adaptedas with common flu vaccines, which are regularly updated to remain effective.
Since it first appeared in December last year, the new coronavirus has infected 76.4 million people worldwide, 1.6 million of whom are fatalities. More than 48 million people have recovered from Covid-19 disease.
