Pandemic Covid-19 (Coronavirus) new strain (variant) in the UK (United Kingdom)
By: Sultan Sulahudin
Tags: Sars Cov2, Coronavirus, UK, Sars, Pandemic

Pandemic Covid-19 (Coronavirus) new strain (variant) in the UK (United Kingdom)

Covid-19 New Strain Sars B.1.17.

Hello dear reader, are you looking for new strain of coronavirus in the UK then read this blog carefully for thorough understanding.

In the recent past the world has been facing an alarming situation regarding the corona pandemic and recently a new strain of this virus has seemed to be appeared in the United Kingdom (UK) identified as SARS-CoV-2 virus which appears to be more contagious than established ones. Here are what scientists know.

1- The simple thing you should know about this strain is that it is not some kind of supe virus. It is just variation and is now known as B.1.1.7- It came to the attention of researchers in December from southern England. When researchers took a closer look to this virus, they were stunt to see as many as 23 mutations in the genome of this virus.

2- The second thing you should know about this new strain is that it appears to be more contagious that is researchers in the UK have found that the virus is spreading more rapidly the United Kingdom as compare to the strain that appeared early in the April in China. But the scientists also think that this rapid spreading of virus may be due to the populated areas in the England as more come in contact with each other and thus, the virus get more chances to spread means where transmission is easy due to more people.

But still, the researchers found that this strain is very good at spreading.

3- New Changes in the Covid-19 new strain (variant)

A series of small mutations that has been observed in many British samples of the coronavirus may be helpful for the easy spreading of the virus. The coronavirus (Covid-19) variant is known as B.1.1.7. Here are some changes that you can see in the figures below.

SARS B.1.1.7. Genetic Variations (Mutations)

Researchers have observed that the rapid spreading ability of this virus may be due to its infecting ability in the children as compare to the previous strain. Normally, children are less likely to be affected as compare to the teenagers or adults but, the new strain may affect the children as equally as adults, said by Wendy Braclay, government adviser and virologist at Imperial College London.

Laboratory trials have begun to confirm that the variant really spread more quickly and easily as compare to the previous ones.

4- Some people think that the virus causes more severe disease than the previous one. But fortunately, there is no evidence of this rumor yet except that it may spread more quickly and if this spread more quickly than it means it will affect more people and more deaths but the severity of the disease is not seemed to be more serious.

5- Now the question is, where did this variant come from?

The possible answer to this question is the virus gained its new mutations inside some special set of hosts. In a typical infection, people pick up the virus and become infectious for a few days before showing symptoms. The virus then becomes less abundant in the body as the immune system starts defending the body against the foreign particle. So, the patient clears the virus within few weeks unless he or she gets serious disease of infection.

Virus strain spreading in the Britain detected in Singapore also

As we already told in the above discussion the strain can equally infect the Youngs as adults, the 17-year old was confirmed infected with the virus on December 8 while in quarantine and it was confirmed further that the virus was B117.

Anyhow, the discovery of new strain which is more transmissible has sent London into Lockdown as most of the world has cut down the routs to Great Britain.

Scientist in the UK say this pandemic new strain of coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in the country and appears to be ore easily transmitted as discussed earlier.

After this new strain of coronavirus the transmission rate in the UK has been increased from 1.1 to between 1.5 and 1.7. this may be caused due to the genetic mutations affecting the virus’s spike protein, which attaches itself to human cells. The scientist are also researching the variant which really unrelated variant recently discovered in the South Africa that shares one of these mutations.

Anyhow, there is no evidence that it does more damage or it may cause severe disease according to the executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies programme, Mike Ryan. But research is on going and the scientists are struggling to understand the basics of this new strain of coronavirus focusing on infections and hospitalizations. Mortality is being taken as a lagging indicator that will need to be taken into consideration in the coming weeks after deep observation, according to Public Health England.

Finally, the question comes that where it come from?

This new variant was first noticed in the UK in late November, as government scientist were investigating why infection rates in parts of southeast England were not falling despite national disease control restrictions. Then the scientist reported the mutations in the new strain of coronavirus that has been named as B117. But why it is called B117 has not been answered clearly in any post or by any scientist as was told the why coronavirus is called covid-19 because it was first observed in 2019 and covid-19 is and abbreviation of corona-virus-disease 2019.

At the end, the good news for all of us is that no evidence of severe COVID-19 infection has been observed as compare to the previously discovered strain. So, all we need to do is just follow the instructions given by the health advisory and World Health Organization.

Myself Hafiz Sultan Sulahudin MPhil Scholar from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab Pakistan. I have published my research paper in Acta Scientific Journal on Wheat aphid and its parasitoids to control the aphid with biopesticides rather than chemical pesticides which may be more harmful for our health.

Thanks!