A coronavirus mutation from Great Britain is currently spreading in Europe.
This is of great concern: because the virus variant is more contagious than the original.
A
mutation of the coronavirus
from Great Britain has been
preoccupying
the world
since December
.
The new variant is significantly more contagious than the previous virus.
If the
infection
spreads, it could
finally get out of control in many places.
Munich - More than
94 million people
have now been
reported
infected
with the corona
virus
, and more than two million have died from it.
An end to the pandemic is not in sight.
In recent weeks, many European countries have been struggling with particularly high case numbers.
A
sharp increase in new infections has also been observed
in
Great Britain
since mid-December last year.
This is also due to a new
virus mutation
.
Coronavirus mutation from Great Britain: The new variant is so contagious
The
corona mutation B.1.1.7
was first detected in the United Kingdom on December 14, and is now found in a quarter of all countries worldwide.
Virus mutations in themselves are nothing unusual, but the British variant stands out.
It is considered to be
significantly more contagious
than the original.
In fact,
according to a study by Imperial College London in the UK, the mutation
increased
the
R value
from 0.4 to 0.7
.
Based on these values, British researchers assume that the new variant is
50 to 70 percent more contagious
than the original virus.
The rapid expansion in over 50 countries seems to confirm this.
However, it does not seem to be more dangerous in terms of the course of the disease.
UPDATE # COVID19 new variant VOC202012 / 01 in England
➡️VOC growing rapidly
➡️Transmission advantage for VOC of 0.4 to 0.7 difference in reproduction number compared to non-VOC variant
➡️VOC affecting a greater proportion of under 20s
👉Report https: // t. co / wZkdw9fCIj pic.twitter.com/YlffZnyPMl
- MRC Center for Global Infectious Disease Analysis (@MRC_Outbreak) December 31, 2020
British Corona Mutation: This is why it is so problematic for many countries
However, increasing the
R-value is
problematic.
It's a good indicator of how many people are getting infected.
If this highly contagious variant continues to spread, the number of cases in the respective locations will increase rapidly.
The infection process would be even less controllable than before, and there is a risk of
overloading the clinics
.
Many countries in Europe are therefore concerned, with governments in many places discussing even tougher measures.
Britain itself is in a
strict nationwide lockdown
to get a grip on the skyrocketing numbers.
In addition, in addition to the British variant,
a similarly contagious mutation was also found
in
South Africa
.
This has now
been proven
in
over 20 countries
.
New forms of the
corona virus
are also said to
have appeared
in
Japan
and the
USA
.
While the Japanese variant seems to differ from the other mutations, the US variant is probably very similar to the British one.
Corona Mutations: Are the Vaccines Still Effective?
However, there is hope that initial studies show that the vaccines developed against the virus variants continue to work.
The
vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer
is said to be able to neutralize the mutations from South Africa and Great Britain, as a study from the USA suggests.
However, there is currently not enough vaccine available to provide effective
herd immunity
.
It is also not certain whether the vaccines developed will be effective against future mutations.
(mam / afp)
List of rubric lists: © JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
