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+--- Thread: New Coronavirus Strain ! (/thread-43865.html)
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
Viruses mutate all the time and it's vital to keep a laser focus on whether the virus' behaviour is changing.
Why is this variant causing concern?
Three things are coming together that mean it is attracting attention:
It is rapidly replacing other versions of the virus
It has mutations that affect part of the virus likely to be important
Some of those mutations have already been shown in the lab to increase the ability of the virus to infect cells
All of these come together to build a case for a virus that can spread more easily.
New Coronavirus Variant ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
New strains can become more common simply by being in the right place at the right time -
such as London, England which had only tier two restrictions until recently.
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
"Laboratory experiments are required,
but do you want to wait weeks or months to see the results and take action to limit the spread ?
Probably not in these circumstances ~
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
It is thought the variant either emerged in a patient in the UK
or has been imported from a country with a lower ability to monitor coronavirus mutations.
Data from Nextstrain, which has been monitoring the genetic codes
of the viral samples around the world, suggest cases in Denmark and Australia have come from the UK.
The Netherlands has also reported cases
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
TOTAL Lockdown of Ontario at 12:01 Christmas Eve Day !
No travellers allowed into the AirPort from the U.K !
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
Minimal Vaccines distributed and the virus already MUTATE !
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
Will the BioNTech Vaccine :
be effective on this Mutation ?
OR is it back to the Laboratory ....
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
The virus that was first detected in Wuhan, China, is not the same one you will find in most corners of the world.
The D614G mutation emerged in Europe in February and became the globally dominant form of the virus.
Another, called A222V, spread across Europe and was linked to people's summer holidays in Spain.
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
What do we know about the new mutations?
An initial analysis of the new variant has been published and
identifies 17 potentially important alterations.
There have been changes to the spike protein -
this is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway to our body's cells
New Coronavirus Strain ! - ketchim - 12-21-2020
One mutation called N501Y alters the most important part of the spike, known as the "receptor-binding domain".
This is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells.
Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.