When at the end of last year the United Kingdom announced the presence of a variation of SARS-CoV-2 among its population, the country began to limit the transit of people and intensified confinement measures; In addition, alerts have been lit around the world. To date, the mutation identified as Variant of Concern (VOC) or Variant in Research (VUI) 202012 / 01 has been found in the United States, Australia, Denmark and Italy , among other countries.
English scientists have warned that the new variant of coronavirus affects more to those under 20 years and is 50 percent more infectious , thus representing “important challenges for the continuous control of COVID – 19 in the UK and elsewhere in the coming months. Social distancing measures should be stricter ”, they recommend.
According to research by Imperial College London (ICL), VOC 202012 / 01 presents a transmissibility of 0.4 to 0.7 points higher in the reproduction number (R0) compared to the original coronavirus, which represents a “multiplicative increase that ranged between a 50 and a 75 percent advantage ”.
The World Health Organization recognizes preliminary reports that assume an estimated increase of between the 40 and the 70 percent in transmissibility, although “ there is not enough information to determine if this variant is associated with any change in the severity of the disease at the clinical level , in the antibody response or in the efficacy of the vaccine. ”
ICL researchers also point out“ a small but statistically significant change towards children under 20 years that are most affected by this variant ”, in whom they found an increase in susceptibility and more apparent symptoms .
The experts assure that their findings have been communicated to the British government and other countries , and that the investigation continues with a particular focus on any changes related to the severity of the disease and its transmissibility.
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