Study claims there were 12 different strains of coronavirus in the UK in March

A new report released today claims that at least 12 different strains of coronavirus spread across the UK in March.

The UK government-funded study came to that conclusion after genetic scientists analyzed the DNA of the killer virus in 260 infected people across the UK.

His research uncovered 12 unique lines of the assassin bug, one of which has only been found in Britain, suggesting that it mutated on UK soil.

But the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) said the ‘substantially higher’ number of strains identified could be the result of under-sampling in the UK, Mail Online reports.

According to the scientists, most of the different strains were imported from Italy and Spain; both were the most affected countries in the world when the research was conducted.

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He also discovered that the strains also came from China, USA. USA And Australia, but the report did not indicate which strains were imported from other countries, nor did it reveal which one is exclusive to Britain.

Infectious disease experts say they do not suggest that either strain is more potent or infectious than the other.

All viruses tend to mutate as they spread, resulting in small changes in their genetic material.

Scientists say this overcomes the resistance of the immune system that varies in communities.

Last month, the report was released to the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) to help them map the spread of the outbreak.

The researchers analyzed patients with coronavirus in Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield for the study.

Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia told MailOnline that this could happen to one of the strains if it continues to evolve.

He said, “It happens a lot with the flu. However, the current coronavirus doesn’t seem to do this that fast, but it’s plausible in the future.”

Professor Hunter added that the report was valuable as it helps scientists track the spread of the killer bug across the UK, which will be crucial when the nation breaks free of the blockade.

He added: “This allows investigators to continue tracking where it is going and to help apply new rules to stop another outbreak.

“Let’s say you have a group in North West England, which is unexpected, and it’s the same strain that is predominantly found in London, so you might see that someone who traveled from the capital must have spread it.”

COG-UK is made up of an association of NHS organizations, the four UK public health agencies, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and more than 12 academic institutions.

COG-UK received funds of £ 20 million from the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Wellcome Trust.

The news comes when new disturbing figures released today show that only 273 of the 18.1 million people who arrived in the UK in the three months before the coronavirus closed were quarantined.

The data provided by the government for Labor MP Stephen Doughty shows that passengers on three flights from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, were placed in a government-backed isolation facility from January 1 to March 22.

Travelers on a flight from Tokyo, Japan, carrying people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were also isolated.

The two of these combined flights totaled less than 300 people.

The remaining travelers were allowed to enter the UK without any evaluation.

This is believed to mean that tens of thousands of people entered from countries affected by the coronavirus.

Labor MP and Select Committee on Internal Affairs Stephen Doughty told the Guardian: “The admission that only four flights from two locations, just a few hundred individuals, of literally millions of arrivals, were formally quarantined While the pandemic was already raging in a number of beggar belief places.

“On what scientific basis were a handful of flights from Wuhan and one from Tokyo selected to receive extreme attention? But not a single flight from northern Italy, Spain or the United States?

“The fact that many of these people probably arrived and traveled across the UK with little or no adherence to social distancing, and with no border controls or protections, just a smell of hand sanitizer, is deeply disturbing. 3,000 fans in Madrid when the pandemic accelerated. “

Doughty sent a written parliamentary question to find out how many people arriving at the UK border from Spain, China, Italy, the United States, Iran, Turkey and France were taken to government-supported Covid-19 quarantine centers each week of January 1 to March 23.

A government spokesperson said: “Our approach to addressing the coronavirus is, and always has been, driven by the latest scientific and medical advice, and border procedures have strictly followed the latest government guidelines at all times.

“The scientific council showed that imposing border restrictions would not have had a significant impact on the spread of the virus in the UK. Currently, the number of passengers arriving in the UK has been reduced by 99 percent, but we continue to have this under review. ” “