Brazil now has its own dangerous mutant coronavirus variation that vaccines may not work as well against. It shares the mutations seen in the South African variant – but is an entirely separate form, as far as scientists can tell – that may disguise it from the antibodies the immune system develops after being infected … Read more
Cases of the new super-infectious variant of coronavirus started to level off and even drop in London, the East and South East over the Christmas school holiday. Graphs presented at a Downing St news conference tonight showed the proportion of positive tests caused by the new variant appeared to fall across the capital and the … Read more
Public health experts are warning that the new mutant British variant of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. will make vaccination efforts a ‘formidable challenge.’ The new strain, known as SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01, is feared to be 70 percent more transmissible and to spread more easily among children. So far, the ‘super-COVID’ variant has only … Read more
China has confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus variant that was recently detected in Britain, health officials said. The first patient in China with the new COVID variant is a 23-year-old woman who flew into Shanghai from Britain on December 14, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control said in a research note published … Read more
New strain of coronavirus ravaging London and south east is 54 per cent more infectious than other variant, PHE study finds The new strain is driving surging infections across London, south east and east Analysis has now revealed that the new strain is 54 per cent more infectious In more positive news, the variant isn’t … Read more
A strain of the coronavirus very similar to the UK mutation was already circulating in Italy as early as August, a top virologist has said. The ‘Italian variant’ was spreading weeks before the first known cases of the UK strain and could even have been a ‘precursor’ to the mutation in England, according to Arnaldo … Read more
South Africa is suffering a powerful second wave of Covid-19 caused by a new strain of the disease similar to the British variant which is feared to be more contagious and driving a surge of infections among young people. Cases in South Africa have risen from fewer than 3,000 a day at the start of … Read more
New coronavirus variant has triggered ‘explosive’ outbreaks in schools in London and the South East, says ‘Professor Lockdown’ Neil Ferguson as he warns the strain has likely spread all over Europe already Prof Ferguson said there’d been ‘anecdotal reports’ of ‘more explosive’ clusters Data has suggested children more susceptible to new, rapidly-spreading variant Also suggested every EU … Read more
Scientists researching the new variant of coronavirus say they have no proof it is more infectious in children. Professor Neil Ferguson, a SAGE adviser and Imperial College epidemiologist, said yesterday there is ‘a hint that it has a higher propensity to infect children’. But members of COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) today said they are ‘not familiar’ … Read more
The mutant British strain of coronavirus is probably already in the United States and could even have originated there, scientists and politicians have said. The new strain – feared to be 70 per cent more transmissible and to spread more easily among children – has led to calls for the US to impose a travel … Read more