New coronavirus variant identified in UK

New coronavirus variant identified in UK

 

Multiple countries are imposing travel restrictions on people from the United Kingdom as scientists there have identified a new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant that originated in southeast England.    The UK government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group said it had "moderate confidence" that this new variant "demonstrates a substantial increase in transmissibility compared to other variants."   A variant occurs when the genetic structure of a virus changes. All viruses mutate over time and new variants are common, including for the novel coronavirus. While this mutation may appear to be more common, it does not necessarily mean the mutation has made it spread more easily, nor does it mean this variation is more dangerous.   Experts say it’s possible that this new variant could have contributed to a spike in cases because of human behavior.   "A higher genomic growth rate in the samples sequenced, may not necessarily mean higher transmissibility, e.g. if there was a rave of several thousand people where this variant was introduced and infected many people mostly in that rave, this may seem very high compared to a lower background of non-variant virus," Julian Tang, clinical virologist at the University of Leicester.  Researchers across the world are already studying whether the vaccines will work against this new variant.