New Mutant Coronavirus Strain IS Almost 50% More Contagious

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Indeed, the new mutant variant of ‘super’ coronavirus is more contagious than previous variants, just as scientists feared, a new study shows.

Researchers at Imperial College London found that the new variant that has caused widespread damage in the UK is nearly 50 percent more transmissible, based on samples taken from nearly 86,000 Britons.

In the study posted online yesterday, which is not yet to be peer-reviewed, researchers from Imperial College found that the ‘R’ number for the new B117 variant is between 0.4 and 0.7 points higher than with other variants.

A virus ‘R’ number describes the average number of additional cases each infection leads to.

In the UK, the last R number is between 1.1 and 1.3, government figures show. This means that on average every 10 infected people infects between 11 and 13 other people.

Charts from the new study show how over eight weeks the new variant became more common (points higher on each map) in the UK and became more portable (points further to the right on each map show rising R numbers or transmission speeds)

Graphs from the new study show how over eight weeks the new variant became more common (points higher on each map) in the UK and became more portable (points further to the right on each map show rising R numbers or transmission speeds

Pictured: A screenshot of the Imperial College report showing case trends related to the new coronavirus strain, with the% S percentage indicating the transport of the new variant

Pictured: A screenshot from the Imperial College report showing case trends related to the new coronavirus strain, with the% S percentage indicating the transport of the new variant

Pictured: Charts from the Imperial College report showing the age distribution of people carrying the new variant of Covid-19

Pictured: Charts from the Imperial College report showing the age distribution of people carrying the new variant of Covid-19

Meanwhile, on average in the US, each infected person currently leads to 1.15 more infections, according to daily calculations by RT.live.

Due to this degree of portability, the R number in the US ranges from about 0.86 in Alaska to 1.23 in Maine, which has emerged as a hot spot this week.

The new variant was first discovered in the UK in September, the study says, but exploded in early December, causing an increase in infections among Britons.

The spread of the new new SARS-CoV-2 variant, or Variant of Concern 202012/01 (VOC), in England is coming despite the fact that there is a stratified system as part of the efforts to control the spread of the virus to get.

Most of England falls under ‘Tier 4’, the strictest level, but despite the measures it still sees a record number of daily Covid-19 infections.

Researchers at Imperial College London sequenced the genomes of 1,904 people infected with the new variant and compared how quickly the virus spread to a wider sample of other specimens of more than 48,000 people in England.

What is the ‘Mutant COVID Strain’ and Why Are Experts Concerned?

Coronaviruses mutate regularly, acquiring about one new mutation in their genome every two weeks.

Most mutations do not significantly change the way the virus works.

This super species, called B.1.1.7, was first identified in the UK in November.

It has since been found in France, Spain, Italy, Iceland, Japan, Singapore, Australia and now the United States.

The new COVID-19 variant has a mutation in the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein at position 501, where amino acid asparagine (N) has been replaced by tyrosine (Y).

It is more contagious than previous strains and potentially more harmful to children.

However, it is no longer considered deadly.

Public Health England researchers compared 1,769 people who were infected with the new variant, with 1,769 who had one of the earlier strains of the virus.

Forty-two people in the group were hospitalized, of whom 16 had the new variant and 26 the wild type.

Twelve of the variant cases and 10 of the ‘older’ virus cases died within four weeks of testing.

Neither hospitalization nor mortality differences were statistically significant.

As they expected, they found that the new virus did indeed have a “ selective advantage over circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants in England, ” they wrote in the print posted online Thursday.

The variant was also disproportionately common in people in their 20s and people living in South East and East England and London.

The findings of the new study mean that every person who contracts this mutated virus will, on average, pass it on to 0.7 more people.

So far, there are no indications that the new variant causes a more serious disease or is more deadly.

Encouragingly, virologists and public health experts believe vaccines made by companies such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna will still be effective against the new variant of the coronavirus.

But the new variant is heating the race between the spread of the virus and vaccination campaigns in the UK, US – where the new variant is now found in Colorado, California and Florida – and at least 31 other countries where the more contagious form of coronavirus is detected.

With an average of more than 186,000 newly infected people in one day in the US, the 48 percent higher transmissibility of 1.85 new infections per day could lead to more than 275,000.

It could spell disaster for hospitals in hotspots like California, where some health care systems and regions are already out of IC beds, in states of “internal disaster” and rationing.

There are similar fears in the UK about the National Health Service (NHS) and its ability to cope with the number of coronavirus patients expected as the new variant of the disease continues to spread.

Data sharing from a separate study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Deepti Gurdasani – a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London in Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics – warned that ‘B117 is either dominant or nearly dominant in most regions’ in England.

Over the course of six weeks, the researchers saw how the transmission speed (R) of the new coronavirus variant became higher (orange) than that of other variants, especially in South East England, East England and London.

Over the course of six weeks, the researchers saw how the transmission speed (R) of the new coronavirus variant became higher (orange) than that of other variants, especially in South East England, East England and London.

Meanwhile, as of Friday, only 3.17 million Americans had been vaccinated, according to a Bloomberg News count.

The number of the CDC puts the number even lower. The agency’s site says its vaccination tracker will be updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but at the time of publication, the tool showed Wednesday’s numbers, with 2.79 million people vaccinated.

Bloomberg’s higher estimate means that Operation Warp Speed ​​vaccinated only 16 percent of the 20 million Americans it promised to inoculate by the end of the year.

At this rate, it would take nearly a decade to vaccinate all adult members of the US population of 331 million people.

And many Americans remain on the fence about getting a vaccine, even if one is available. About 60 percent of nursing home workers in Ohio said they would refuse an injection.

Slow, dysfunctional vaccine distribution and Americans’ mistrust of the shots could combine to provide the B117 variant with just the opening it needs to spread like wildfire across the country, infecting millions beyond the 20 million people who have the infection. have already had in the US, and are killing thousands.

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