According to scientists, another new COVID-19 variant has been discovered in the US, UK and other countries.
The B1525 variant is similar to B117 – the highly contagious species found in Britain in mid-December that has since made its way to the US, the Guardian reported.
The new variant has surfaced in 10 countries so far, including Denmark, the US, Nigeria and Australia. 32 cases have been reported in the UK. No cases of the new mutant have been reported in the US so far.
The earliest series dated back to December, the report said.
Scientists are working to learn more about B1525, including how it spreads and how vaccines can affect it.
“We don’t know yet how good this is [new] variant will spread, but if successful, it can be assumed that immunity to a vaccine or previous infection will be blunted, ”said Dr. Simon Clarke, associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, at The Guardian.
But what’s worrying is that the new variant contains a number of mutations, including the E484K mutation of the spike protein, which plays a role in helping the virus enter cells.
Experts like Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge, are pushing for surge testing for B1525, saying it was found with another mutation “that probably helps it escape from our antibodies.”
The mutation is also present in the variants in South Africa and Brazil, which have been shown to be more resistant to the vaccines than other strains.
One study found that the B117 strain, meanwhile, can be up to 70 percent more deadly than previous versions of the virus.
The news of B1525, which is the subject of a University of Edinburgh study, comes on the heels of a report showing at least seven new coronavirus variants in the US.