The United Kingdom has recorded a disturbing 33 new COVID-19 mutation which was first detected in Nigeria around December 2020.
According to The Mirror, Public Health England announced the findings of 38 cases as a ‘variant under investigation’ amid worrying claims that vaccines might be less effective against it.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh confirmed that the strain contained the E484K mutation to the spike protein.
They emphasized that the mutation had also been found in South Africa and Brazil variants and is believed to help the disease evade the antibodies that could beat it.
According to Dr. Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, there are fears that the strain might be resistant to current vaccines.
“We don’t yet know how well this [new] variant will spread, but if it is successful, it can be presumed that immunity from any vaccine or previous infection will be blunted.
“I think that until we know more about these variants, any variants which carry E484K should be subjected to surge testing as it seems to confer resistance to immunity, however that is generated,” Clarke said.
A Professor of Public Health, Tanimola Akande has also reacted to the report.
He expressed confidence that new vaccines could prove effective against the Nigerian strain of coronavirus detected in the UK, adding that the Nigerian COVID-19 strain must have something to do with the sequencing of the virus.
“There is nothing too extraordinary about it. It just shows that there are certain things in the virus that are different from what you find elsewhere, which is usually due to mutation.
“But for people to speculate that it may not respond to current vaccines is a far job. One can speculate, but you cannot say of certainty that the virus is resistant to vaccines,” he said.
