A recent COVID-19 variant has been discovered in the UK which is similar to the Kent strain. This strain is presently being studied to know its operations.
New COVID-19 variant discovered
Medical experts have noticed a new COVID-19 variant in Britain which has some strange mutations B. 1.525 as it is called is very close to the South African strain which has made health officials start an area-to-area testing in the location it was first seen.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh have discovered about 40 cases so far with about 4 from Wales and 36 from the UK after analyzing data from January. However, the UK isn't the only country it has been seen as Denmark, Nigeria and America have also said the strain has been seen. However, it is not yet known which health implications it has and how it differs from other variants.
Health officials are not certain if they should add it to 'strains of concern' and if they should start conducting mass testing for it. According to Professor Ravi Gupta from Cambridge University who is a health advisor for the UK government, this new strain needs to be watched closely and investigated further. He also said that this B. 1.525 shows signs of mutation like other variants.
Not much is known about the new strain - Professor Doyle
This is good because it will be predictable like other variants. However, the sad part is that not much is known about it'. Professor Yvonne Doyle which is an officer in UK public health
'We are monitoring information from several variants. We will continue to do contact tracing and extra testing. There isn't any evidence to show that this new strain is more transmissible and causes severe sickness.'
One feature however noticed in the new variant is that it has E484k like other variants which means it also tries to evade some immune defense systems. Furthermore, it also seems to be contagious like the Kent virus which has surged in the UK.
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