Cases from a new variant of the virus causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) are now showing up in several countries around the world – reports from countries including Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Canada and Japan.
Virus mutations aren’t a new phenomenon nor is it specific to COVID-19.
“Viruses constantly change through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. Other times, new variants emerge and start infecting people,” the CDC explains on their website. “Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and globally during this pandemic.”
However, this new variant, which was first detected in Southern England, is believed to be more contagious than the original virus – and is believed to have caused the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in the U.K. in November.
However, while the new variant is believed to be more infectious, so far, there is no evidence that it causes more severe illness in cases of COVID-19. Per the U.S. Center of Disease Control and Prevention website, “Initial studies suggest that the new variant may spread more easily from person to person. So far, scientists in the UK see no evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe disease.”
BBC also reports that while the new variant appears to be rapidly replacing other versions of the virus, and laboratory testing has shown that the virus’ mutations have an increased ability of the virus to infect cells, a preliminary analysis conducted on the new, more transmissible variant of coronavirus found no significant difference in terms of causing hospitalizations and deaths from the strains of the coronavirus currently circulating.
Experts are still trying to determine how the new variant differs from earlier variants of the coronavirus as well as how the disease caused by this variant differs from the disease caused by other variants that are currently circulating. They are also continuing to gather data to better understand what threat the new strain poses to all age ranges.
Some countries have already announced travel bans to and from the UK. The CDC is also communicating with European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is closely monitoring the situation in the UK.
But there is some still good news: According to the CDC, there is no evidence that the new variant of the virus affects the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. Most experts believe this is unlikely to occur because of the nature of the virus, thus the leading vaccines developed in recent months should still work.
In the meantime, experts continue to urge everyone to practice more immediate measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, such as avoiding large indoor gatherings, wearing masks, practicing physical distancing and using other public health measures.
Stay safe and healthy, everyone!
