A new form of coronavirus has emerged in the UK and the news, announced on Monday, has upset Britons. “It worries me about my two children,” says Christina, a Romanian who arrived in the country ten years ago. For the first virus, they said it was safe for children, so it was okay. But this virus -It may be dangerous for the youngest, we don’t know yet. This week, there were three positive cases in my son’s school which is in CE1. A child from another class and two teachers of CE 2 have tested positive. The big one goes to school and then comes home while I have this little baby… “In spite of everything, the young woman refuses to go to be vaccinated when it is her turn. “I’m too scared of the side effects,” she admits. Other residents of the capital, on the other hand, believe that mutations are part of the life of the virus and do not care.
“It’s part of the life of viruses, isn’t it? I’m no more worried about this mutation than the previous form of the virus,” said Loretto, a therapeutic masseuse. But I find that we don’t. enough information on the subject. The best that can be done is to protect yourself and wear masks. The most vulnerable people already take care of them. My mother is 82, if her friends are sick, she is not going to see them, it is common sense! “
Too alarming announcements?
Among the scientific community, one wonders, however, the relevance of the government’s alarming announcements. “We do not yet know if this mutation is important with regard to the rate of transmission,” comments Professor Aris Katzourakis, specialist in evolution and genomics in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford.
The Minister of Health was quick to make the link between this new mutation and the new wave of the epidemic which is starting in London and in parts of the south. Not only is it too early to know, but even if it does, a single mutation cannot have more of an impact on transmission than loosening the restrictions. The new waves of the pandemic are better explained by the policies taken by governments than by mutations, this is true for the United Kingdom as for other countries. “The scientist is not worried about the effect either. that this mutation could have on the Pfizer vaccine, being administered in the UK. “As it has not been given to the entire population yet, the likelihood of a random mutation will give it resistance is very close to zero. “
But worried or not by this new form of the virus, the British wonder if this news will push the government to revise the relaxation that was planned for the Christmas period, namely the possibility of meeting between three outbreaks over five days of the 23rd. to December 27. At a press conference yesterday, Boris Johnson confirmed that the planned exceptions will be maintained, for now anyway.
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