The risk of not detecting covid-19 variants in time 3:48
(CNN) -
The variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK that has 'swept the country' 'is going to sweep the world in all likelihood,' Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium, told the BBC on Wednesday. .
The highly communicable coronavirus strain was first identified in September 2020, in the English county of Kent.
It has already been detected in at least 86 countries and was the catalyst for the current UK lockdown.
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Peacock predicted that his sequencing work, which tracks coronavirus mutations, will likely be necessary for another decade as the virus continues to circulate around the world.
“We are building a list, a kind of leader board of mutations that we care about and that we can look for… I think that, looking to the future, we will do it for years.
In my opinion, we will continue to do so for another 10 years, ”he told the BBC Newscast podcast.
Where he came from?
Speaking about the origins of the UK variant, known as B.1,1.7, Peacock said there is a growing scientific literature to suggest that it evolved in an immunosuppressed patient.
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“This virus is so different from everything else that was circulating that there are only two possible explanations: one is that it was introduced, the second explanation is very plausible, and that is that it was in a patient who had a simmering infection for many months and that virus had a chance to adapt and change over time.
I think there is a growing literature that shows that this is the case, "said Peacock.
"The jury is still out" on whether the variant is more lethal
At a press conference in Downing Street in late January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had warned that the new UK variant could be 30% more lethal than previous strains.
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Peacock told the BBC on Wednesday that no concrete evidence had emerged to support that theory.
"The jury is still out on that, I don't think the evidence is really firm ... I think it's still under investigation," he said.
coronavirus variant
