Health officials in the United Kingdom said that they have identified at least 1,000 people who have become infected with a new strain of the coronavirus. While the virus has mutated before, the latest mutation occurred with the spike protein the virus uses to infect people.
Scientists said that while the mutation could make the virus more infectious or potentially impact the efficacy of the newly developed vaccines, they have not found any evidence that is happening. They cautioned that they must do more research before reaching any definitive conclusions about that new strain.
"Efforts are underway to confirm whether or not any of these mutations are contributing to increased transmission. There is currently no evidence that this variant (or any other studied to date) has any impact on disease severity or that it will render vaccines less effective, although both questions require further studies performed at pace. We will provide further updates as our investigations proceed," the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium said in a statement.
Most of the cases with the new strain have been located in the south and east of England. The government cited the rise in new cases on Monday (December 14) when announcing new restrictions in London and other areas of the country.
Photo: Getty Images