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Researchers are particularly concerned that the Е484К mutation on the peak protein, which is present in a new variant of COVID-19, may be resistant to certain vaccines. They say the new variant should be studied through revival tests.
Another variant of COVID-19 with a potentially worrying range of mutations has been found in the UK, reports The Guardian, citing researchers from the University of Edinburgh.
The new variant, called B1525, has been detected by genome sequencing in at least ten countries. The first series have already appeared in December and are reportedly popping up in the UK and Nigeria.
According to scientists, B1525 is similar to the genome of the Kent variant, or B117 – which was first identified in south-east England last September and is now found in more than 80 countries around the world. It is estimated that it is between 30 and 70 percent more deadly and between 35 and 45 percent more transmissible than the original virus.
The ‘potentially worrying set of mutations’ refers in part to the Е484К mutation to the peak protein, which is also found in Brazil and South African variants of the new coronavirus.
Researchers say that Е484К makes the virus more immune to antibodies.
According to Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, the presence of the E484K mutation in the South African variant is responsible for resistance to some vaccines.
‘We still do not know how good it is [new] variant will spread, but if successful, it can be assumed that immunity to any vaccine or previous infection will be blunted, ”he said.
Dr Clarke said that until more information on the new variant is available, it should be subject to revival testing.
“I think that until we know more about these variants, any variants with E484K should be subjected to surge tests, because it seems to resist immunity, however generated.”
At least 32 cases of the new coronavirus variety have been reported in the UK. 35 infections have been identified in Denmark, 12 – in Nigeria, seven and five – in the United States and France respectively, with the first cases in Ghana, Australia, Canada, Jordan and Spain.