COVID-19 super-strain is mutating again; could render vaccine ineffective

As coronavirus is mutating rapidly, medical experts believe that it could negatively impact the vaccination rollout program that is already underway in several countries.

It was in December 2020 that researchers in the United Kingdom detected a highly contagious super-variant of coronavirus. After detecting the new strain, UK authorities soon informed the finding to the World Health Organization (WHO) and revealed that the super-variant is 70 percent more transmissible than the original variant that was initially discovered in Wuhan, China. The super-variant is now present in several European countries, and even in India. And now, experts have warned that another UK super-variant of coronavirus named E484K has started mutating.

Mutated variant might be resistant to coronavirus vaccine

Researchers believe that the mutation of the super-strain could make the virus resistant to the vaccines which are now being rolled out in several countries. According to experts, E484K is seeing the same change witnessed in the South African and Brazilian variants that recently caused International panic.

"The mutation of most concern, which we call E484K, has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country too," Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) told BBC4.

Professor Semple also added that maximizing the vaccination among people is the only way by which the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled.

"It's incredibly important to snuff it out where you can and seek it out where you can and use that time of suppression to maximize vaccination within the population. But there is an inevitability with these viruses, particularly with these mutations that we're now seeing arising spontaneously in Brazil and in the South African strain," added Semple, Daily Star reports.

Coronavirus: Latest statistics in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom, at one point in time, had shown signs of flattening the coronavirus curve. However, post the detection of the super-variant named B.1.1.7, coronavirus positive cases in the country started increasing drastically. According to the latest statistics, there are more than 3.8 million COVID-19 positive cases in the United Kingdom, and the death toll has crossed 1,06,000.