An-Najah News - With the new Covid variant, first discovered in the UK, continuing to spread across the country and the world, you may be wondering how unusual it is for a virus to mutate.
All viruses naturally mutate, and Sars-CoV-2 is no exception - accumulating an estimated one or two changes a month
The UK variant has 14 mutations that cause a change in protein building blocks (amino acids) and three deletions (missing bits of genetic code).
While it does appear to be more transmissible, scientists say there is no evidence that it causes more severe illness.
Good to know:
- India becomes the latest country to detect the new, more transmissible coronavirus variant
- The variant - first indentified in the UK - has also been detected in South Korea, Canada, and across Europe
- Spain says it will set up a register of people who refuse to have the Covid vaccination
- The head of England's health service says workers are "back in the eye of the storm" as cases rise
- The military is to support mass testing in England's secondary schools next month
- But school leaders warn the return of pupils may have to be delayed
- Globally there have been 81m confirmed cases since the outbreak began, and almost 1.8m deaths
