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British authorities have informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about a new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus found in Britain. Studies are in progress, a WHO spokeswoman in Geneva said Tuesday.
“So far we know very little about this variant,” said Richard Neher, who researches the evolution of viruses and bacteria at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, of the German Press Agency. It is not clear, for example, whether one of the mutations is associated with reduced recognition by the immune system. British authorities are currently investigating this, according to WHO.
Possibly more contagious
Because the new variant of the virus was detected in more than 1,000 people in south-east England in a short period of time, British authorities are also examining whether it is more contagious than known variants. “At this time, it is not possible to say if the variant is spreading faster,” Neher said. “The sudden occurrence could also be explained by super spreader events.”
According to the WHO, the already known variants of the virus in terms of the transmission routes or the severity of the Covid-19 disease that can trigger little or nothing have behaved differently from the initially identified virus. So far, there has been no evidence from Britain that this is different with the new variant.
