New Corona Virus Variant Found in England, Allegedly More Contagious

KOMPAS.com – New variant corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) which causes Covid-19 disease has been identified at English southeast.

The variant is named “VUI – 202012/01” and is currently being researched by a number of experts in the UK.

Launch BBC, Tuesday (15/12/2020), new variant this is said to be growing even more rapidly in parts of the country.

Confirmed until December 13, 2020, 1,108 cases with this variant have been identified, mainly in the southern and eastern regions of England.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that strain this has an impact on disease severity, antibody response, or its effect on vaccine efficacy.

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Cases have risen sharply, continue to be investigated

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 local agencies had recorded cases of Covid-19 caused by this new variant of the corona virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been notified of this variant, and experts in the UK are continuing to carry out further research.

So far, Hancock said there were no assumptions to suggest that the new variant of the virus could make a person worse off or cause the vaccine to fail.

Hancock reported to lawmakers at the House of Commons that in the past week there has been a sharp increase in coronavirus infections in the London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire areas.

“Now we have identified more than 1,000 cases with this (new) variant, mainly in southern England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas,” said Hancock.

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Quick action

The government is also trying to take immediate and decisive action to control this disease.

British Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Whitty said, the current swab test (PCR) can detect new variants that have been found.

The change or mutation of this virus causes a protein spike in the body of the virus. The proteins in viruses are part of what enable them to infect cells.

An expert from Birmingham University, Prof. Alan McNally, asked the public not to panic or fear excessively because the presence of this new variant does not mean that Covid-19 is more contagious or malignant.

“Great efforts are being made to determine the character of this variant and understand its emergence. It is important to keep calm and rationality on strain because this is normal viral evolution. We hope that new variants come and go with time, “he said.

Because it is still in the stage of further research, it is not known whether this new variant of the virus has a worse impact or not.

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Genetic changes

A professor of molecular virology from Nottingham University, Prof. Jonathan Ball, explained that genetic information in viruses can change rapidly.

“Sometimes these changes can benefit the virus by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or escape vaccines or treatment, but many changes have no effect at all,” he said.

Dr Susan Hopkins from Public Health England (PHE) or the UK Department of Health and Social Care said it was investigating strain SARS-CoV-2, especially in Kent and the surrounding area.

“It was unexpected that the virus had to evolve and it was important for us to see any changes immediately in order to understand the potential risks any variant might pose,” he said.

According to Susan, there is currently no evidence that this strain causes more severe disease, even though it is detectable across a broad geography, particularly where there is an increase in detected cases.

The best way to stop infection, according to him, is to adhere to the rules, namely washing your hands, wearing a face covering and keeping your distance from other people.

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Almost one mutation in a month

Quoted from Guardian, Tuesday (12/15/2020), the corona virus that causes Covid-19, like other coronaviruses from the same family, is an RNA virus with a mutation rate of nearly one mutation a month.

It’s not enough to earn strain new viruses, but over time and accumulated mutations, especially when populations do not travel much from continent to continent, strain Different viruses will appear in different places around the world.

Mutations are tricks that viruses use to get one step ahead of the immune response.

When a person develops antibodies against a virus and quells an outbreak, the virus needs to change its coat to avoid being introduced by antibodies and immune cells. Otherwise, the virus will perish.

It is the immune system itself that prompts the virus to change its outer proteins and develop strain new to survive.

Mutations occur randomly, driven by the error-prone process as the virus replicates so that people cannot predict whether the new virus that has accumulated mutations over the years will be more or less dangerous or more or less contagious.

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No need to panic

Dr Zania Stamataki, senior lecturer and researcher in viral immunology at the University of Birmingham, said it could not predict the nature of the strain viruses that appear in terms of clinical symptoms.

However, experts can move ahead of the virus with constant surveillance to adapt our vaccines and the severity of infection control strategies.

“A new strain of virus is unlikely to render the vaccine useless, but this may happen eventually (in the future),” he said. Guardian.

Zania also said the public shouldn’t panic because the three new vaccines reported in the complete clinical trial recently all used technology that encoded information for the coronavirus spike protein.

It passes that information on to our own cells, which work hard to produce proteins to stimulate our immunity.

“It’s very easy for us to change recipes and update our vaccines when we need them, and keep them relevant for different parts of the world,” he said.

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He said he had the tools to follow the virus development using genetic sequencing methods.

According to Zania, the emergence of this mutant variant of the corona virus is not surprising to scientists so there is no need to panic.

“We know how to protect ourselves and others, and we need to continue that,” he said.

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