UK's Out Of Control Coronavirus

22 Dec, 2020 14:12 IST|Sakshi Post

There is concern over the spread of the new COVID variant in the UK. England is now battling the coronavirus mutant. Virus will mutate; it is vital to keep a keen eye on its development. Britain’s health minister on Sunday said that the lockdown imposed London and southeast England will most likely last for months.

All the Christmas plans are requested to be cancelled. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that no matter what, everyone must stay at home. A ban was imposed on any kind of family or mass gatherings on Christmas Eve. The lockdown this time is more severe.

Is this New COVID Variant a Matter of concern?

  • This new strain has already infected thousands of people in the UK.
  • It is spreading rapidly and is 40 to 70 percent more transmissible
  • The lab testing of the mutation was confirmed to increase the virus' ability and spread the infection.

However virus mutations happen all the time. A mutation was earlier reported in Malaysia. It just gets the place to spread at a given time. The mutant that was discovered back in September has now spread more and according to November stats of COVID cases, more than 30 percent of the cases registered are of this new variant.

Name of the Mutation- N5017

This new strain of coronavirus has mutated. It’s the mutation called N5017. This virus “spike” protein helps the virus to penetrate human cells.

Severity to the Death rate

The new strain is said to be spreading rapidly but there has been no news as to the mutation affecting mortality rate. It appears that this virus is much more infectious than the preceding strain. Also there has been no indication that the strain will affect the vaccines.

Current COVID Vaccines

There was no indication of the strain affecting current vaccines. The normal methods of treatments are being used.

England’s chief physician, Chris Whitty added that “there is no indication at the moment that this new strain causes a higher mortality rate or affects vaccines and treatments, but work is urgently underway to confirm that.”

There is no evidence as to any changes in the severity of the disease. So the regular treatments are being used. The mutated virus will most likely react to the existing vaccines; although there has been no proper update regarding it.

There are concerns over the virus probably being able to generate vaccine escape mutants.

World Health Organization

WHO's emergencies chief Michael Ryan spoke about the spread of new strain. "We have had a much higher infection rate at different points in this pandemic and we've got it under control. So this situation is not in that sense out of control. But it cannot be left to its own devices,” added Ryan.

The measures we currently have in place are the correct measures. We need to do what we have been doing, we may just have to do it with a little more intensity and for a little longer to make sure we can bring this virus under control.

Ryan motivated everyone to think positive. He said that even though the virus has mutated and has become more efficient in spreading, it can still be stopped. 

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