A member of the British government’s advisory panel, Sampson, said on Feb. 2 that the new coronavirus disease variant in the U.K. has spontaneously developed the “most worrisome” E484K mutation.
Reuters reported that the E484K mutation occurs in the spike protein of the virus. The same mutation has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants of the virus that have caused international concern.
“Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on BBC radio that in some parts of the U.K., the British strain of the new Kent virus has also spontaneously emerged as the most potent virus. The most worrisome mutation, E484K, has also appeared spontaneously in some parts of the UK.
The British variant of the virus was first identified in Kent, southern England, and is referred to by scientists as B.1.1.7.
In a technical briefing, Public health England reported the spontaneous emergence of the E484K mutation in the UK, but it did not receive widespread attention outside the scientific community.
The summary of the briefing at the Time stated, “A limited number of B.1.1.7 VOC (variant of concern)…genomes with the E484K mutation have now been detected.”
According to the BBC, experts working with Public Health England have found the E484K mutation on only a handful of British variants of the virus – only 11 cases out of 214,159 samples tested.
Experts also say that while the mutation may reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine, the vaccine currently in use should still work.
Julian Tang, a virus expert at the University of Leicester, said the vaccine should still work. Tang (Julian Tang) said that in order to avoid further mutations of the virus, it is important for people to comply with vaccination restrictions and reduce the number of cases.
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