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The ‘Bristol variant’ of Covid-19 has been found in the United States of America, according to US health chiefs.
The mutation, which has been designated as a ‘variant of concern’ by government health chiefs here in the UK, was first discovered in 11 cases in and around Bristol in late January, and led to testing of massive ‘surge’ in the city and neighboring South Gloucestershire in the last fortnight.
Now, at a press conference at the White House, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has confirmed that the Bristol variant has also been found in Covid cases in the US. USA
The Bristol variant is being closely monitored here in Britain because it is considered to have the greatest capacity of all the Covid-19 variants discovered so far, to decrease the effectiveness of vaccines against the virus.
The Bristol variant has the same composition as the Kent strain, which swept the country in November and December and has now become almost the totally dominant strain of covid in Britain.
But the Bristol variant also has the same additional mutation in the E484K spike protein seen in the South African variant of Covid that has also started to be found in Britain, so it is a combination of the two variants that is of concern to the heads of public health. both here.
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Earlier this week, Bristol and South Gloucestershire public health chiefs said they were reassured by early augmentation test results that seemed to show that the Bristol variant was no more contagious or severe than the Kent variant, but it will be the efficacy of vaccines against it that is of greatest concern.
“E484K is currently the mutation with the greatest evidence for causing antigenic changes,” the PHE said in a statement last week. “Several independent studies showing the impact of different antigenic variants have concluded that E484K is among the individual mutations with the greatest impact.”
Dr Walensky told the White House press conference that the UK’s first variant, the Kentish one, known as B.1.1.7., Had already been found in 42 US states, and warned that this could become the dominant strain in the US.
When this was discovered before Christmas, scientists said they estimated it appeared to be 70 percent more contagious than the original Covid-19 virus, and the latest research seems to indicate that this is because it takes a victim longer to show symptoms. But they are still contagious during that time, so they are spread to more people.
At the White House, Dr. Walensky warned that the Bristol variant could affect America’s vaccine program, at a time when the number of cases and hospitalizations have decreased in the United States by about 20 percent. per week.
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