UK Covid-19 variant shows signs of further mutation

United Kingdom researchers have warned on Tuesday that the Covid-19 variant, currently in circulation across the country, has shown signs of further mutation.

Researchers conducted tests on samples of the Kent variant, named after the region in England, where it was first detected, showed signs of evolution called ‘E484K’. However, this mutation has already been identified in South Africa and Brazil.

This comes as the researchers are still trying to find out whether the mutated strains of coronavirus can evade immune cells incited by the vaccine, making vaccines less efficacious.

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The findings form part of yet-to-be peer-reviewed results of research at the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Covid-19 BioResource.

Professor Ravi Gupta, the lead researcher at the CITIID said: “Of particular concern, though, is the emergence of the E484K mutation, which so far has only been seen in a relatively small number of individuals. Our work suggests the vaccine is likely to be less effective when dealing with this (E484K) mutation.”

He speculated that the virulent virus would continue to evolve into more contagious variants.

“So, we need to plan for the next generation of vaccines to have modifications to account for new variants. We also need to scale up vaccines as fast and as broadly as possible to get transmission down globally,” he said.

Also read: Fresh data show the toll South African Covid-19 virus variant takes on vaccine efficacy

The study also suggested that without the administration of the second dose of the vaccine, it will be difficult to protect the people who are over-80 old.

Dr. Dami Collier, the main co-investigator on the studies said: “Our data suggest that a significant proportion of people aged over 80 may not have developed protective neutralising antibodies against infection three weeks after their first dose of the vaccine. But it’s reassuring to see that after two doses, serum from every individual was able to neutralize the virus.”

The study comes at a time when the UK is carrying out urgent door-to-door testing in order to try and trace every case of the South African variant of Covid-19 in the country, as per media reports.

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