Tag: Mutated

  • South Korea Reports First Case Of COVID-19 Variant Linked To Rapid Spread In UK

    South Korea has reported first cases of COVID-19 variant linked to the drastic increase of coronavirus infections in the UK among three people who had entered the country from London on December 22, said the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on December 28. While the pandemic has continued to tighten its grip across the world even after more than a year it was first originated in China, the South Korean officials have reportedly pledged to ramp-up the efforts to launch a public COVID-19 vaccination programme. The officials are reportedly now analysing the genome from another family of four people who arrived from the UK and have tested positive for the disease.

    Just last week, the new variant of the novel coronavirus has been flagged for spreading rapidly across the UK for now. Even though it is a well-known fact that viruses mutate all the time and some of them even die out, it is a very rare occasion when the new strains trigger dramatic changes. However, with over 1,000 cases of the variant discovered in the UK, scientists are puzzled to determine if the variant, reportedly named as VUI-202012/01 falls into which category or if it represents an increased health risk especially when some nations began administering the COVID-19 vaccines among people. 

  • UK Reports Two Cases Of New South African COVID-19 Strain, Tightens Lockdown Restrictions

    The United Kingdom reported identifying two cases of another new strain of COVID-19 linked to South Africa on Wednesday, December 23. Like the UK variant identified earlier, the new South African variant of COVID-19 is also adding to the surge in cases of infection, with experts warning the country is probably facing a much larger second wave.

    “Both [cases of the new variant] are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks,” said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock while addressing a briefing from 10 Downing Street. “This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK,” he added.