New COVID-19 strain spreads more quickly, UK medical chief says

[turbinetree]

Source: Reuters

HEALTHCARE & PHARMACEUTICALS
DECEMBER 19, 20208:19 AMUPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

By Reuters Staff

1 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - A new strain of COVID-19 identified in the United Kingdom can spread more quickly and urgent work is under way to confirm that it does not cause a higher mortality rate, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said on Saturday.

“As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance,” Whitty said in a statement.

“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.”

Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by William Maclean



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-strain/new-covid-19-strain-spreads-more-quickly-uk-medical-chief-says-idUSKBN28T0KP?il=0

[dem4decades]

1. WTF? Are we going back to square one? That would be tough.

[ananda]

2. Is that what has happened here in the USA too?

Sure looks like it anyway.

[SheltieLover]

6. My thought, too!

[bucolic_frolic]

3. A similar report was issued a few months back

but wasn't confirmed as verifiable, I think I recall.

This would be bad news indeed, but Mother Nature is striking back. Our population has so invaded every habitat as to unearth every last disease and virus. It's sort of a self-regulating mechanism. Maybe we're up against the limits.

[Shermann]

4. Yes there have been a few of these reports

It might be anti-science to dismiss it merely because of similar earlier reports which didn't pan out.

I'm skeptical because it's not like we have an exact measurement of the R-naught value. So I don't see how they can accurately measure whether a new strain is more or less virulent.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. They think this has increased the R number by 0.4

and they have identified that the new variations affect how it binds to a cell. The proportion if this variant has increased a lot in the South East of England, but not in the North West; and the overall numbers are going up fast in the SE, but not the NW.

[catrose]

5. oh swell, a super-covid

And do the vaccines work against it?

[SheltieLover]

7. I wonder 8f vaccines will protect against mutations?

Guessing so, as the vax targets the spikes on the organism. Not sure though.

Anyone know or have thoughts on this? Tyia!

[IsItJustMe]

16. Just guessing, but the Pfiser and Moderna Vaccines are formulated so that the spike protein

covid uses (shaped like a crown) can't pernitrate the cell wall. The mutated virus would still have the same spike protien, so the vaccine should still work.

[SheltieLover]

17. Ty!

That was my thought, too. Not a med professional, though.

Ty again!

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. PM announces 'tier 4' Covid curbs and curtails Christmas mixing in England

Boris Johnson has issued a new “stay at home” order covering London and much of the south and east of England, and dramatically curtailed plans for Christmas mixing nationwide, in response to a new fast-spreading strain of coronavirus.

Just days after reaffirming the festive “bubble” plan and claiming it would be “inhuman” to cancel Christmas, the prime minister announced the creation of a new, stricter “tier 4”.

Only households living outside this area will now be allowed to mix for Christmas in England – and then only for a single day, 25 December, with long-distance travel discouraged.
...
The area affected includes all of London and much of the south and east of England, including Kent, most of Essex, most of Surrey, as well Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, parts of Bedfordshire, Gosport, Portsmouth and Peterborough.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/19/pm-announces-tier-4-covid-curbs-and-curtails-christmas-mixing-in-england

That's my basic Christmas plans shut down. I'm in a tier 2 area, and was going to spend Christmas with my brother and family, in Buckinghamshire. Seems necessary, though.

[SheltieLover]

18. Best to stay safe!

[EarthFirst]

10. Is there data to support that the current vaccine will be effective against mutations?

I’m sure the contingency has been raised; however does anyone know?

[Chemisse]

11. A little more detail

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55308211


"He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work."

[orangecrush]

15. It already spreads like wildfire

Hard to imagine a worse scenario.

[Chemisse]

25. Plus, no matter what they say, every significant mutation brings it closer

to the one that makes the vaccine ineffective.

[LisaL]

29. mRNA vaccines are easy to change.

They can introduce the same mutation as in the virus into the mRNA sequence. Flu mutates very quickly and flu vaccines are different every year.

[bronxiteforever]

12. Kick and recommend for visibility

Important info:

There is a simple rule for understanding all "new strain" or "new variants": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.
This is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the "scare" but not the "answer".

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. There's a change with how it binds to and enters cells

The new variant contains 23 different changes, many associated with changes in the protein the virus makes, Vallance says.

It has variance in areas with how the virus binds to cells and enters cells, he says, which caused concern in terms of how the virus looks.

There are three questions, he says:

Does the new variant transmit more readily?
Does it alter the course of the disease?
Does it alter the way the immune system responds to it?

Studies suggest the new variant has a substantial increase in transmissibility, Vallance says.

It is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in London or Kent, he says.

By mid-November, about 28% or so of cases in London and the south-east, and slightly lower in the east of England, were due to the new variant – a rapid growth, he says.

By the 9 December, this was much higher, he says.

In London, more than 60% of new cases were the new variant, he says, meaning it not only moves fast but is becoming the dominant variant in terms of transmission.

There is no evidence at the moment to suggest the new variant causes more severe disease, Vallance says.

Nothing has been seen so far to suggest it alters the immune response and the vaccine response should be adequate for this virus, he adds.

Transmission is the big change with this strain, he says, meaning we need to stick to reducing our contact and reducing its ability to spread.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/dec/19/coronavirus-live-news-uk-deaths-climb-as-australia-battles-to-contain-covid-19-cluster?page=with:block-5fde2ae58f08da4121f48cd4#block-5fde2ae58f08da4121f48cd4

[bronxiteforever]

23. Thank you for the info! I really pray they are right.

[NurseJackie]

13. I feel like I'm living in a dystopian end-times movie. This is frightening.

[roamer65]

20. The Andromeda Strain.

[MFM008]

24. But that mutated

To a less dangerous form.
Now couldnt a 'more easily' spread type still be managed
By masking and social distancing.
I know people wont do it ...thats probably why...

[roamer65]

27. This one will eventually do so as well.

More infectious, but more like a cold will be its eventual route.

How long it will take is the $64k question.

[DeminPennswoods]

28. That's what it seems like

I usually watch the mortality rate as total deaths/total infections. Mortality has been steadily dropping even 3+ weeks after the predicted post-Thanksgiving "surge". It's now under 2% at about 1.8%. So it appears to be more contagious, but less deadly overall. CNN reported the current rate of new cases as 1 in 216, but that is .46%.

[MFM008]

30. i agree

especially after widespread use of a vaccine.

[Larissa]

31. It's mutating

Our science nightmare already doesn't have a happy ending: 317,387 Americans dead. 192,901 new U.S. cases. I think I'll re-watch "Andromeda Strain," a film that terrified me when it was released. Now I know terror squared.

[orangecrush]

14. And we have a lunatic in power

This is not going to end well.

[IsItJustMe]

19. Almost a year later and there are, as of yet, still so many unknows about this virus.

I do remember Fauci saying that this virus has a very slow mutation rate as compared to other viruses. That is a good thing.

[roamer65]

21. As long as the spike proteins don't appreciably change, we will be ok.

If they do, they will have to obtain the new encoding via mRNA and load it in to the vaccine.

[Chemisse]

26. You make it sound so simple.

I hope that is the case! It could be a quick readjustment and a booster shot.

[raccoon]

32. Is the new strain milder, or is it too soon to tell? Nt

[Larissa]

33. Cuomo Rips UK to JFK Air Travel over Covid-19 Mutation

https://nypost.com/2020/12/20/cuomo-rips-uk-to-jfk-air-travel-over-covid-19-mutation/

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday called it “reprehensible” and “grossly negligent” to allow UK travelers to fly into JFK Airport without being tested despite a contagious new mutation of the coronavirus shutting down London.

“Right now, this variant in the UK is getting on a plane and flying to JFK,” Cuomo said in a call to reporters Sunday of the mutation UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned could be 70 percent more transmittable.

“Right now. Today,” the governor stressed, calling for the feds to impose coronavirus testing of UK travelers at a “minimum,” if not an outright ban.

“Literally six flights a day. And all it takes is one person,” he said of the possible seed for the new strain’s spread.

So far, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria have all announced bans or strict restrictions on UK travelers since Johnson announced London’s lockdown on Saturday.

At least 120 countries also make sure travelers from the UK get a negative test for the coronavirus before letting them in, Cuomo said — saying that Johnson’s sudden lockdown so close to Christmas was a clear sign of how “apparently dangerous” the new mutation has proven.

“We have about six flights a day coming in from the UK. And we have done absolutely nothing,” said Cuomo, who also announced the state has another 9,957 COVID-19 cases and a positive rate of 5.05 percent.

(Full article at link above.)

[Steelrolled]

34. I frankly don't have a lot of confidence in this news and what the UK are doing

And when governments get involved at this stage, I think the chances of over-reaction are comparable to the under-reactions we have seen over the past year. It is probably a wise move for Boris Johnson to go full red alert to play it safe, medically, but most especially, politically.