The British government, in the wake of an increase in Covit-19 pollution, said on Tuesday that a new subspecies was spreading in the United Kingdom “to monitor very closely” if it was highly contagious it would not be installed.
This “AY4.2” variant is a sub-variant Highly contagious delta It first appeared in India and it re-emerged in late spring and early summer.
“We are closely monitoring this new format and will not hesitate to take action if necessary,” a Downing Street spokesman said. However, “nothing says it spreads so easily”, he tried to reassure.
More than 40,000 positive cases daily in the UK
The appearance of this new variant, despite the very strong epidemic of delta rejecting new strains, still raises fears of a larger transaction. This is the United Kingdom, which condemns nearly 139,000 deaths from Covid 19, Facing increasingly positive cases, Now exceeds 40,000 per day, a much higher incidence rate than other parts of Europe.
Some scientists attribute the current deterioration to restrictions currently in place, such as adolescents and young adults, weakened immunization of young children, weakened immunity at a very early stage, or lifting indoor masks in July in the UK.
“No situation comparable to the origin of alpha and delta strains”
But for Fran்கois Baloux, director of the Genetic Institute at UCL, the new variant “does not appear to be the result of a recent increase in the number of recent cases in the United Kingdom”. With its low frequency so far, he explains, “a 10% higher exchange would have only resulted in a lower number of additional cases.”
The appearance of AY4.2 “does not create a situation comparable to the appearance of strains Alpha And the delta was more conductive (50% or more) than any other strain in circulation at the time, the researcher added.
The new variant AY4.2 is almost non-existent outside the UK, except for three cases in the US and a few more cases in Denmark, which have almost disappeared. Work is underway to test its resistance to the vaccine.
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