According to scientists, another new COVID-19 variant has been detected in the US, UK and other countries.
The B1525 variant is similar to B117 – the highly contagious strain found in Britain in mid-December, which has since been on its way to the US, reports the Guardian.
The new variant has so far emerged in ten countries, including Denmark, the US, Nigeria and Australia. Thirty-two cases have been reported in the United Kingdom. No cases of the new mutant have been reported in the US so far.
The report dated the earliest series to December.
Scientists are learning more about the B1525, including how it spreads and what effects vaccines, if any, can have.
‘We still do not know how good it is [new] variant will spread, but if it is successful, it can be assumed that immunity against any vaccine or previous infection will be blunted, ”said dr. Simon Clarke, associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told the Guardian.
What is worrying, however, is that the new variant contains a number of mutations, including the E484K mutation on the peak protein, which plays a role in helping the virus enter the cells.
Experts such as Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge, call for stress testing for B1525 and say it was found with another mutation “which is likely to help it escape our antibodies.”
The mutation is also found in the South African and Brazilian variants, which are more resistant to the vaccines than other strains.
One study found that the B117 strain could meanwhile be up to 70 percent more lethal than previous versions of the virus.
The news of B1525, about which a study was conducted by the University of Edinburgh, comes on the heels of a report finding that at least seven new coronavirus variants are turning up in the US.