Scientist: Britain's coronavirus variant 'likely to sweep the world'
The coronavirus variant first found in the British region of Kent is a concern because it could undermine the protection given by vaccines against developing COVID-19, the head of the UK's genetic surveillance program says.
Sharon Peacock, , director of the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium, also said the variant was dominant in the country and was likely "to sweep the world, in all probability."
The coronavirus has killed 2.35 million people and turned normal life upside down for billions, but a few new worrying variants out of thousands have raised fears that vaccines will need to be tweaked and people may require booster shots.
Peacock said vaccines were so far effective against the variants in the United Kingdom, but that mutations could potentially undermine the shots.
That new mutation, first identified in Bristol in southwest England, has been designated a "Variant of Concern," by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group.
There are so far 21 cases of that variant that has E484K mutation, which occurs on the spike protein of the virus, the same change as has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants.
There are three major known variants that are worrying scientists: The South African variant, known by scientists as 20I/501Y.V2 or B.1.351; the so-called UK or Kent variant, known as 20I/501Y.V1 or B.1.1.7; and the Brazilian variant known as P.1.
The British variant, which is more infectious but not necessarily more deadly than others, was likely "to sweep the world," Peacock said.
The two COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca protect against the main British variant.
(Source: Reuters)
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