The British coronavirus variant ‘on course to conquer the world’, says a geneticist

LONDON – A variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in the UK and has since been identified in more than 50 countries could become the dominant form of the virus worldwide, according to the head of the UK genetic surveillance program.

“The new variant has taken over the country and is likely to take over the world,” said Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium.

“Going forward, I think it will be key if something (a variant) is particularly problematic with the vaccines,” she told the broadcaster’s Newcast podcast.

Founded in April 2020, the group Peacock leads is bringing together highly respected experts and institutions to collect, sequence and analyze the genomes of the virus as part of the UK’s pandemic response. To date, it has kept the genetic history of more than 250,000 samples of the virus.

The consortium first discovered the more contagious variant of the virus, called the “British variant” and formally known as “B1.1.7”, in September 2020 in Kent, South East England, through retrospective analysis of virus samples.

Viruses are constantly mutating, but experts are concerned when a virus mutates to become more transmissible, as in this case, or more deadly. The higher infection rates associated with the variant identified in the UK are likely to lead to more hospitalizations and, unfortunately, more deaths; as a result, keeping them has become a priority.

The variety quickly spread through the South East of England and London, and has now become the dominant species in the UK. It has also been detected in more than 50 countries, with health authorities rushing to isolate cases, although it is believed that this more virulent strain is already in widespread circulation.

It is difficult to determine the exact origin of the mutation, and given the consortium’s work, it would likely find new variants in the UK (other countries that have advanced genome sequencing of the virus, such as Denmark and South Africa, also have variants discovered). Peacock, who is also a professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said she believed the sequencing of coronavirus variants would take at least 10 years.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 107 million cases of coronavirus and more than 2.3 million deaths around the world to date.

Aside from the variant of the virus first seen in South East England, two new variants have appeared in a cluster of cases in the cities of Liverpool and Bristol, which scientists are now tracking.

The Bristol variant has been identified as a “variant of concern” by the UK New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group.

Peacock said that while mutating variants were a concern, the variant seen in and around Bristol was in “confined areas and in very low numbers,” with only 21 cases detected so far.

“Inevitably, the virus will continue to mutate, but what’s worrying is that the B1.1.7 variant that we’ve been circulating for several weeks and months is starting to mutate again and get new mutations that affect the way we treat it. the virus in terms of immunity and vaccine effectiveness, ”she added.