Mutant Srain: "No Cause for Concern" : View With Caution

 

"Even during the [recent] lockdown in England, this virus had an R-number that was about 0.4 larger than non-variant strains."

"The non-variant strains had an R number of about 0.8, but this variant had an R of 1.2 or even higher."

"[Potentially bad news for efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, already claiming over 67,000 lives in Britain; 1.7 million worldwide]."

"I think it is highly likely to become the dominant strain across the UK given the trends we have seen so far. There is a hint that it has a higher propensity to infect children."

"We have to be cautious in our conclusions, this is still early days and there's still a lot of uncertainty about many aspects of this new variant."

Neil Ferguson, director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis

 

"There is an really unusual cluster of mutations associated with this variant -- 23 coding changes across the whole virus genome."

"The previous virus had a harder time binding to ACE2 and getting into [human] cells. [That made adults -- with more abundant ACE2 receptors in their nose and throats -- an easier target compared to children]."

"If the new strain is having an easier time of entering and binding to cells, that would put children on a more level playing field."

"It is possible that we may need to update vaccines, perhaps not every year. But we will need to monitor these viruses moving forward."

Wendy Barclay, head, department of infections disease, Imperial College London

Technicians conduct COVID-19 tests at a new facility Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, in Valencia, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, Pool)

"[The new strain will not decelerate vaccine efforts]."

"Right now, we have no indications that it is going to hurt our ability to continue vaccinating people or that it is any more dangerous or deadly than the strains that are currently out there and that we know about."

U.S.Surgeon General Jerome Adams

Fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain has prompted more countries to close their borders to Britain. A sense of global panic has set in with the news of a new strain discovered in the United Kingdom with 23 mutations in its genetic code representing a rather high number of changes, some of which appear to have affected the coronavirus' capacity to spread far more effectively. The fear that set into the global community has caused travel chaos, raising the possibility of food shortages in the U.K. even as the Brexit cliff edges nearer.

Hong Kong, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, India, Jordan, Poland, Spain and Pakistan have suspended travel to British citizens planning trips abroad in the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's warning of a mutated variant of the COVID virus which appears to be up to 70 percent more transmissible, appearing in the country. Other nations too have taken steps to block travel from Britain, including France, Germany, Italy, Canada the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland and Belgium.

This, even as experts have declared that the mutated strain most likely is in circulation in countries that have no idea of its presence, given their less advanced detection technologies. The most concerning thing about the circulation of the variant is its more transmissible capability than the original strain. What has been established is that the new variant reflects a critical mutation whose lineage has been recognized in explosively-swift transmissions in South Africa, now accounting for 80 to 90 percent of new infections in that country.

September was when the realization struck of the appearance of a new variant in Britain. In London by early December, 62 percent of COVID-19 cases were linked to the new variant, in comparison to 28 percent of cases attributable to the variant three weeks earlier. The appearance of the new variant has also been reported in small numbers by Iceland and Denmark. 

A concern has been raised that current vaccines may be compromised by this significantly mutated virus leading doctors at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the U.S to research the effectiveness of current vaccines on the new strain. Early conclusions are that the vaccines will continue to be effective. Ugur Sahin, co-founder of BioNTech assured it was "highly likely" its vaccine would be effective against the mutated strain. The company could adapt the vaccine if necessary, given six weeks

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The virus mutation was detected in September in Kent

"Viruses constantly change through mutation and the emergence of a new variant is an expected occurrence and not in itself a cause for concern."

"There is no indication at this point of increased infection severity associated with the new variant."

"[A conclusion] "challenged by the fact that the majority of cases were reported in people under 60 years old, who are less likely to develop severe symptoms."

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) threat assessment report

A man wearing a protective face mask walks past an illustration of a virus outside a regional science centre in Oldham, England, on Aug. 3. (Phil Noble/Reuters)