Coronavirus: How Worrying Is the New Mutations found in England?

It is now well known that viruses always change and take on new forms - called 'mutations'.

Sometimes this new form of virus is more dangerous than the previous one, or it can become more 'innocent' than before. There may be some mutations that have no effect at all.

Why does the virus change form in this way? The goal is usually to spread and reproduce more easily from one human body to another, or to survive by overcoming obstacles such as drugs or treatment.

Scientists are already aware that coronaviruses can take on new forms through mutations.

But in the last couple of days, a new strain of coronavirus has been found in at least 60 places in England.

Scientists say the new form of the virus is responsible for the recent rapid increase in coronavirus infections in the area.

The World Health Organization has already been notified and British scientists have begun detailed research on the virus.

Now the question is: where did this new type of coronavirus come from, and how much do we have to worry about?

Is the behavior of the new species of coronavirus different?

The BBC's health and science correspondent James Gallaher writes that the first question he raised when he saw the news of a new strain of coronavirus was: Has there been any change in the behavior of the virus?

The news of a mutation in the virus seems like a scary news to us. But mutations and self-mutating viruses are normal.

Many times this change is almost meaningless, sometimes it loses the ability to infect people and dies.

Again sometimes it can get the ‘winning formula’ to last longer and increase the infection.

Is the new mutation the cause of more infections?

That being said, this new mutation of the coronavirus has been found in the south-west of England.

However, there is no definitive evidence that it can spread from person to person, cause serious illness or deal with vaccines more easily than before.

However, scientists are keeping a close eye on this new 'strain' for two reasons.

One reason is that this new strain has been found in areas where the number of infections is high.

This is a warning signal. However, it can be explained in two ways.

One is: there may have been a mutation in the coronavirus - which could have spread more easily, and that's why the number of infections is increasing.

Did the new mutation come from Spain?

However, it is possible that this new strain infected "the right people at the right time."

This is called 'Spanish strain.' When people in Britain went on a summer vacation to Spain in August-September - they were infected with this particular mutation and brought it to Britain.

However, in order to be sure that this strain can spread more easily than others - you need to do several tests in the laboratory.

Question 2: What exactly is a mutation?

The other thing that scientists are frowning on is: the kind of change that has taken place in the virus as a result of this mutation.

Nick Loman, a professor at Covid-19 Genomics UK (COG), told the BBC: "There have been a surprising number of mutations in the coronavirus - much more than we thought. But a few of these mutations have piqued our interest."

Scientists say the mutation is basically of two types.

Many people now know that coronaviruses have thorny spikes and a special kind of protein. The coronavirus uses this protein to break down the cell barrier of the human body, and 'occupies' it.

The most important part of these spikes is the "receptor binding domain." This part is changed by the mutation called 'N Five Zero One'.

It is through this thorny part that coronaviruses first come into contact with the cells of the human body. If there is a change that makes it easier for the virus to get into the body - then it is an important change.

Professor Loman says it looks like a significant change.

Another mutation in the coronavirus is called H6N9 / V7Zero. It has been found several times before the search.

This mutation was found, especially in the Netherlands and Denmark, on the farm of a species called mink (whose hair is used to make clothing).

Worryingly, the antibodies found in Mink's blood that survived the infection were less effective in attacking the mutation.

But even in this case, to understand exactly what is the matter - you have to do more tests in the laboratory.

"We know there's a different strain of coronavirus, but we don't know yet what it means biologically," said Alan McNally, a professor at the University of Birmingham.

"It's not yet time to decide whether it's important or how much."

But as a result of this mutation, the vaccine will no longer work?

If there are mutations in coronavirus spikes or thorns - then the question naturally arises as to whether the vaccine will work anymore.

Because, in all the vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca, the human immune system is being 'taught' to attack the coronavirus spike.

However, according to James Gallagher, the vaccine can infect many parts of the human body's spike.

That's why experts are convinced that the vaccine will be equally effective against this new strain of coronavirus.

This particular virus is a virus that evolved in animals and began to infect humans just over a year ago.

Since then it has undergone one mutation or change every two months.

If you take a sample of the coronavirus today, and compare it to the virus first found in Wuhan, China - you can see that there have been about 25 changes between them.

The coronavirus is constantly making new mutations - so that it can infect the human body more effectively.

We have seen this happen before. Earlier, another type of coronavirus called G6 One Four was said to be "making the virus more susceptible to spread."

But soon after the mass vaccination of people - a new challenge for coronavirus will emerge. He then has to change himself (again) to infect the vaccinated person.

Now, if the vaccine really causes a new evolution of the virus - then we may need to update or change that vaccine - in order to keep it effective.

''We are doing just that in the case of the common flu''.

Source: BBC Bangla