Why the new strain of coronavirus is more contagious – News

British researchers are studying the new variant of the virus which began to be detected a few weeks ago. Among the warnings, there is the speed of contagion between people, which has led to a sharp increase in cases worldwide.

Experts explained that a variant occurs when the genetic makeup of the virus changes, which is generally common given the constant mutations of these.

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According to the results of the first surveys, “they now have great confidence that this variant has a transmission advantage” over the others, said last Monday Peter Horby, chairman of the Advisory Group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats. (NERVTAG). .

Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer of England, reported that variant VUI-202012/01 contains 23 modifications, including 17 key “non-synonymous” mutations.

NERVTAG member scientist Neil Ferguson added that this variant, unlike the original, may be more contagious in minors: “There is an indication that he has a greater propensity to infect children.

For its part, there is still no evidence that this variant is more lethal than the previous one, and vaccines have not been shown to be ineffective against this mutation.

Until, the mutation was detected in Denmark, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and the United Kingdom, as confirmed by the World Health Organization.