3 years ago
As we all know all viruses mutate naturally over time. Sars-CoV-2 generally known as Covid-19 is no exception. New variant of corona virus is spreading all over the UK; new restrictions and lockdown has been imposed.
Many new variants of Sars-CoV-2 have been identified as of today. Dr Lucy van Dorp, an expert in the evolution of pathogens at University College London said -"They don't change the behavior of the virus, they are just carried along."
New variant of virus is found to be more contagious. "Viruses carrying these mutations can then increase in frequency due to natural selection, given the right epidemiological settings,”.
This is what seems to be happening with the variant that has spread across the UK, known as 202012/01, which is a similar but different variant, recently identified in South Africa (501.V2).
There is no evidence till today that either causes more severe disease, but the worry is that health systems will be swamped by a rapid rise in cases. The variants have different origins but share a mutation in a gene that encodes the spike protein, which the virus uses to latch on to and enter human cells.
Everyone should take precautionary measures to be safe from the virus. All the people wearing mask should be new normal whether vaccinated against the virus or not.
