Social media reports have made several false allegations about a new variant of the coronavirus that has spread across Britain.
The variant was found in England in mid-December and led to other countries imposing travel restrictions on the UK.
The reports show a photo of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, during a press conference, and the following text:
“Questions for these lying clowns:
1. How do you know that there is a ‘new tribe’ if you have never shown that the ‘old tribe’ exists? ‘
2. How do you test the ‘new strain’ if the ‘test’ does not test for the ‘old strain’? ‘
3. How can you say that the vaccine will still work with the ‘new strain’ if you say that we should have a flu vaccine every year because the ‘strains’ are still changing?
Answers: we do not; we can not; we lie ”(here, here, here).
EIS 1
“How do you know that there is a ‘new tribe’ if you have never shown the ‘old tribe’? ‘
The ‘strain’ to which the report refers is a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known as B.1.1.7 or VUI 202012/01.
This variant of the virus is not the first to be discovered, nor is it uncommon (here).
Unlike other variants, however, scientists say that this is remarkable because it has an extraordinary number of genetic changes and that it is up to 70% more transmissible (here) (here).
The variant was found during an investigation into an unexpected increase in COVID-19 cases in the South East of England (here).
The mutations were detected by the COVID-19 Genomics Consortium (COG-UK) (here), and information on different variants found can be found in this document (here).
EIS 2
“How do you test the ‘new tribe’ if the ‘test’ does not test for the ‘old tribe’? ‘
The variants have been identified because samples of the virus genome have been set up regularly, meaning scientists can monitor them for changes.
However, this is different from testing for the presence of the virus.
The tests used detect SARS-CoV-2 to analyze samples using a method called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which detects viral RNA (here).
It has been observed that one of the mutations in the new variant affects one of the three genomic targets used by some PCR assays (here).
This means that that target area, or ‘channel’, would be negative in those tests.
“This has affected the ability of some tests to detect the virus,” said Robert Shorten, an expert in microbiology at the Society for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (here).
However, since most PCR tests detect more than one gene target, there is a smaller chance that it will cause a false negative result (here).
Other claims regarding the effectiveness of the PCR test are discussed by Reuters’ fact check (here) and (here).
EIS 3
“How can you say that the vaccine will still work with the ‘new strain’ if you say that we should have a flu vaccine every year, because the ‘strains’ are still changing? ‘
Flu vaccines need to be changed every year because different flu viruses circulate (here) every year.
The vaccine is designed to protect against the three or four flu viruses that are likely to spread during the flu season.
(here).
According to scientists, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines currently being deployed in the UK will not protect against the new variant (here).
This is because there are apparently no major changes to the ear protein.
“AZD1222 (AstraZeneca’s vaccination candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus ear protein, and the changes to the genetic code found in this new viral strain do not appear to alter the structure of the ear protein”, AstraZeneca, the developers of a COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the UK, told Reuters earlier (here).
Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, also said that COVID-19 vaccines appear to be sufficient to generate an immune response to the new variant.
VERDICT
Untrue. The new variant of the virus, as well as many others, has been proven to exist. Scientists have continuously sequenced the genome of the virus and its mutations. The tests for the virus can be affected by the mutation, but PCR tests detect more than one gene target, which reduces the chance of a false negative result. The flu vaccine changes every year because different flu viruses circulate every year. The new mutation in SARS-CoV-2 apparently did not affect the peak protein enough to prevent the new COVID-19 vaccines from working, scientists said.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.