New Covid variant with worrying mutations found in 11 countries

PanARMENIAN.Net - Another coronavirus variant with a potentially worrying set of mutations has been detected in the UK and 10 other countries, experts have said, according to The Guardian.

The variant, known as B1525, is the subject of a report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who say it has been detected through genome sequencing in 10 countries including Denmark, the US and Australia, with 32 cases found in the UK so far. The earliest sequences were dated to December and cropped up in the UK and Nigeria.

The team say the variant has similarities in its genome to the Kent variant, B117, and it contains a number of mutations that have worried researchers, including the E484K mutation to the spike protein – a protein found on the outside of the virus that plays an important role in helping the virus to enter cells.

This E484K mutation is present in variants that emerged in South African and Brazil and is thought make the virus better able to evade neutralizing antibodies produced by the body.

Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, believes that the new variant should be included in efforts to boost testing to pick up variants of concern.