There are new variants of the coronavirus.This is what we know so far

A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is thought to promote the transmission of the disease in parts of the United Kingdom.

The government has put some areas under the new, including London, Tighter coronavirus restrictions, Known as Tier 4.. People in the Tier 4 region cannot meet with people outside the family for Christmas, but people in other parts of the country can only meet on Christmas Day itself.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his chief scientific adviser said the new variant could increase COVID-19 infection by as much as 70% and increase R or reproduction numbers by 0.4%.

What is the importance of this new discovery? Lucy van Dolpe, a microbial genomics researcher and pathogen evolution expert, answers some important questions about what we know at this time.

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Time: 1 minute 18 seconds1m 18s

What do we know about this new variant?

VUI–202012 / 01 or a new British variant known as Lineage B.1.1.7Was first identified in Kent County on September 20th.British Health Minister Matt Hancock first Announced existence A variant of December 14; then confirmed by UK Public Health Services And the UK COVID-19 Sequence Consortium..

Variants carry 14 defined mutations, including 7 Spike protein, A protein that mediates the invasion of viruses into human cells. This is a relatively large number of changes compared to the many variants in circulation around the world.

To date, the genetic profile (or genome) of this mutant has been sequenced and shared primarily from the United Kingdom, but includes two cases, part of Denmark and Australia.There is also a report of the incident Netherlands.. All of these countries are making very large-scale genomic sequencing efforts, and these observations provide an actual distribution of this variant of the virus that may be present undetected elsewhere. It is very likely that it has not been reflected. As more genomes are generated and shared, we will know more.

Thanks to efforts in UK data sharing, genomic surveillance, and COVID-19 test results, this variant is now beginning to dominate existing versions of the virus, and the proportion of some cases may be increasing. there is. Especially in areas where the number of cases is expanding rapidly

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In these cases, it is always very difficult to unravel the cause and effect. For example, the increased appearance of certain mutations increases the frequency of viral strains that carry them, simply because they are in areas of high transmission, for example due to human activity or intervention choices. It may be.

This is still possible, but so far there are sufficient observations to ensure that this variant is very careful characterization, monitoring, and intervention to suppress transmission.

Is it more dangerous?

Chris WhittiThe Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom has made it clear that there is no evidence that this mutant alters the severity of the disease, either in terms of mortality in infected individuals or the severity of cases of COVID-19. It was. Work is underway to confirm this.

How do viral mutations occur?

Mutations are a natural part of Virus evolution.. For SARS-CoV-2, these mutations can occur due to random errors during virus replication. Trigger Known as recombination by antiviral proteins within infected individuals or through gene shuffling.But the signs of recombination are Currently not detected by SARS-CoV-2..

Most viral mutations are expected to have no effect.For example, when our team evaluated the substitution of individual mutations in more than 50,000 genomes from the first wave of the pandemic, no significant changes were detected. Virus fitness — The ability of the virus to survive and propagate.

However, mutations, or in this case a combination of specific mutations, are often fortunate and bring new benefits to the virus. Viruses that carry a combination of these mutations can increase in frequency due to natural selection, given the appropriate epidemiological environment.

Where did the variant come from?

I don’t know for now. To date, scientists have not identified closely related viruses that support the theory that mutants were introduced abroad. The pattern of mutations observed is Extended period of adaptive evolution Probably in the UK, based on current data.

Similarly Mutation pattern Have been in these Observed In the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Chronic infected patients with weak immune system.. The current hypothesis is that such a chronic infection scenario is in one patient, Origin of this variety.. This will continue to be investigated.

How many variations of SARS-CoV-2 have you found?

SARS-CoV-2 has thousands of strains, on average Only a few distinct mutations.. It is a fact that SARS-CoV-2, which is currently distributed worldwide, has almost no genomic diversity. However, the subtleties of mutations carried in different strains are Reconstruction of infection pattern..

As an example, in the early stages of a pandemic, use lineage assignments to identify at least 1,000 people. Introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK..