New Strain of COVID-19 Seems to be More Dangerous and Infectious

By Neil P. First Posted: Dec 20, 2020 01:28 AM EST

A new strain of COVID-19 called 501.V2 seems to be the cause of virus surge in other countries. The new strain causes more severe illness and is more dangerous.

(Photo : Unsplash/CDC)

COVID-19 continues to infect millions of people around the world and has claimed the lives of more than a million also. As new vaccines are developed, another problem emerged.

It is the discovery of a new COVID-19 strain which is more dangerous and may cause severe illness.

New Strain of COVID-19 Discovered

COVID-19 continues to ravage around the world in different factors like economy and health. As the new vaccines give hope that the pandemic will end soon, a discovery of a new strain of the virus was discovered that is more infectious and dangerous.

UK health officials announced a few days ago that a new strain of COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in the south part of the country.

The strain featured 17 distinct changes and most of them impacting the spike protein, according to BGR.

One of these is called N501Y and this affects the receptor-binding motif of the spike protein, according to the UK COVID-19 Genomics Consortium.

Among the mutation of the virus, UK health officials clarified that this does not appear to cause more severe illness.

Meanwhile, South African authorities reported a few days later that mutation of the virus is apparently linked to the surge of new COVID-19 cases and driving the second wave in the country.

This is after more than 10,000 new cases were reported in just a single day.

According to a report in The East African, South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced the 501.V2 mutation of the virus.

Unlike the strain in the UK, this one in South Africa causes more severe illness. It was also found out that younger people infected with the new strain of virus developed critical illness without suffering from other comorbidities.

Mkhize said during a virtual briefing on Friday, "The evidence that has been collated, therefore, strongly suggests that that the second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant," Local officials also said that the new strain of virus seems to be spreading faster than the previous one.

WHO Will Investigate the Origin of the Virus

The World Health Organization will investigate the origin of the virus in China. This will help uncover more answers about the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan.

The origin of how the virus started still remains a mystery until today. It was first believed that it came from an animal species then it infects humans. Now, the most acceptable transmission of the virus is human to human.

Scientists and researchers continued to track the mutation of the virus. It is very important to track these new changes because mutations can make a virus more infectious or dangerous and can hinder drug and vaccine research.

At present, the D614G mutation is believed to be responsible for the current status of the pandemic. This mutation doesn't make the virus more dangerous, but it did become more infectious.