Recently, a frightening new strain of coronavirus, innocuously called B 1 1 7, erupted in southeast England, causing the government to tighten the region’s lockdowns. While we don’t understand all the specifics, experts are increasingly optimistic that it is transmitted more easily than other strains.
Other forms of the virus are quickly replaced, mutations affecting part of the virus are likely to be important, and some of those mutations have already been shown in the laboratory to improve the virus’s ability to infect cells.
The SARS-CoV-2 strain B 1 1 7 is a variant of the virus with 23 mutations, 8 of which are in the spike protein used by the virus to bind to and invade human cells.
According to the World Health Organisation, it was first identified in Kent County in England on Sept. 21, then took off and spread in November.
It has since been the most common variant in England, reflecting, according to the WHO, more than 50 percent of new cases diagnosed in the United Kingdom between October and Dec. 13.
Some scientists now suspect that the virus may have mutated in a person who has been immunocompromised. That’s because the novel coronavirus can fix errors as it replicates, unlike the flu, and therefore appears to have a reasonably stable genome.
references:
www.livescience.com/uk-variant-coronavirus-faq.html
www.bbc.com/news/health-55388846
www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/philippines-study-identifies-new-coronavirus-mutation/2073956
