As the United Kingdom is trying hard to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the country has faced an unexpected blow due to a new variant of the virus in the country. The new mutated variant of the virus has been identified in Kent, and it may be partly responsible for the sudden surge in COVID-19 positive cases in the South.
Mutated coronavirus variant spreading quickly
Coronavirus, since its outbreak in December 2019 has mutated multiple times, and several experts believe that this pandemic has mutated more than 35 times. However, the new strain has started worrying experts, especially due to the fact that this variant is apparently spreading quickly.
According to the latest statistics, more than 1,000 people have been already infected with this new strain of coronavirus. Authorities in England have notified the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the identification of this new mutated strain of the virus.
"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out," said Matt Hancock, England's Health Secretary.
Will the new strain affect the development of vaccines?
As the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc in all nooks of the globe, top pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer are busy developing an effective vaccine against the virus. The detection of the new mutated version of coronavirus comes at a time when the United Kingdom was gearing up for a mass immunization drive with predicted initial vaccine shots aimed at more than 8,00,000 people.
However, the detection of this new strain has concerned many people as a mutation could make existing vaccines useless and ineffective. Medical experts believe that the existing vaccines could be tweaked in the future to target the mutated COVID-19 strain too.
