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New variants of the coronavirus circulating around the world appear to be increasing transmission and are being closely monitored by scientists.
Driving the news: The highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant originally detected in the UK could become the dominant strain in the US by March if no action is taken to control the spread of the virus, the Centers said on Friday. for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Why is this important: Countries are overwhelmed by outbreaks of cases that have led to border closures, quarantine and more aggressive pressures for the public to be vaccinated. So far, the variants do not appear to be resistant to existing vaccines or cause more severe disease.
The state of play: Public officials are looking for variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the B.1.1.7 variant detected in the UK, the 501.V2 variant in South Africa and a recently discovered variant in Brazil.
Variant B.1.1.7 has been identified in around 45 countries, but countries without routine genetic surveillance, including the United States, may not fully know the extent of the spread, prompting calls for increased surveillance.
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Public Health England has published a new study on B.1.1.7 which estimates the variant to be 30% to 50% more transmissible than other forms of the virus.
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12 US states have detected variant B.1.1.7. The CDC estimates that it is linked to about less than half a percent of cases in the United States so far and is not the dominant variant.
The 501.V2 variant is “a little more worrying about the possibility of interfering with some of the monoclonal antibodies,” based on the preliminary results, infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci told Axios last week.
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The variant carries a number of mutations that show changes in some of the virus’s spike proteins, which experts say is concerning since the spike protein is what the coronavirus uses to enter human cells, reports the BBC.
Japanese Ministry of Health detected a variant on Sunday after travelers returned from Brazil. There are still many unknowns, but scientists say it has 12 mutations and studies are underway on the effectiveness of vaccines against the new variant.
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Brazil’s health ministry has asked Japan for information such as the genetic sequence of the new strain, according to the Japan Times.
The big picture: Viruses mutate, often without affecting the severity of the disease or how the virus spreads. But sometimes mutations are important to public health, and scientists say it’s important to watch them.
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Pfizer and Moderna are testing their vaccines against the variants. Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday that the N501Y mutation found in both B.1.1.7 and 501.V2 variants had been tested against their vaccine and found “no reduction in neutralizing activity against the virus.”
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But there are multiple mutations and more studies are underway.
What to watch: CDC officials pushed back on reports of a U.S. variant of the virus on Friday, The New York Times reports.
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“To date, neither researchers nor CDC analysts have seen the emergence of a particular variant in the United States,” the CDC said.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bottom line: Viruses mutate and evolve, and the coronavirus is no different. So far, public health officials still claim that wearing a mask, social distancing, testing and tracing, and hand washing are best practices to stop the spread of COVID-19 .
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