Everything we know about the new strain of coronavirus in the UK

The new strain of coronavirus hit hard United Kingdom in the middle of second hello which led him to impose a quarantine lasts in London and other regions facing Christmas and New Year. At the moment, we don’t know much about it viral mutation which started in the southeast of England, is already registering cases in other countries and forcing several European countries to block British flights.

As announced by UK authorities, preliminary investigations suggest that this new strain of COVID-19 may spread more easily, but on the other hand, always there is no evidence that it causes more severe symptoms or higher mortality. The news comes as the UK, one of the countries in Europe hardest hit by the pandemic, has passed the two million infected and over 67,000 dead following illness.

The new strain of coronavirus has also led to a new strict quarantine in the UK. The plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions at Christmas has been scrapped across much of South East Britain. Boris Johnson he decreed severe containment for two weeks in London, large areas of east and south-east England and Wales. Residents of areas like London, Kent, Essex and Bedfordshire, England, will not be able to meet anyone other than their own home.

Service stores and non-essential products they must also remain closed. Other parts of England, Scotland and Wales have planned to ease their restrictions for five days, but will only do so on Christmas Day. Residents of Wales have also been ordered to stay at home since midnight and in Scotland borders have been closed to visitors from other territories.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new strain:

New strain of coronavirus: UK limits Christmas with total lockdown

The new strain is more contagious

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, explained that, based on the initial data that is under review, “this may 70% more transmissible than the previous variant “.

Apparently, 60% of new infections in London correspond to the new variant of the coronavirus, the BBC. That way, the virus could have mutated to spread more easily and cause more infections.

We don’t know if it’s more deadly

For the moment there is no reason to believe that the new variant of the coronavirus detected in the south-east of England causes more severe symptoms or affects the ability of vaccines. Johnson himself reiterated that there is no evidence that the new strain causes more severe symptoms or higher mortality.

The mutations

There are two notable sets of mutations. Both are in the spike protein, which is the key that the virus uses to open the door for cells in our body and take over. The mutation N501 it changes the most important part of the peak, known as the “receptor binding domain”.

The other mutation – a deletion H69 / V70– has appeared several times before, for example in infected mink in Denmark.

The concern was that antibodies in the blood of survivors appear to be less effective against this variant of the virus. Since the start of the pandemic, they have been detected about two mutations per month: Take a sample today and compare it to the first of Wuhan in China and there would be around 25 difference mutations.

How they affect vaccines

Mutations raise the question of whether they will affect different vaccines that are starting to be applied in countries. The body learns to attack several parts of the beak. That is why Health officials remain confident vaccines will work against this variant.

However, these mutations could imply that we must update vaccines regularly, as we do with flu shots.

EuDr / FF