Coronavirus: UK variant’s mutations began as early as March or April, new study finds
- The rise of new strains in Britain, South Africa and Brazil has prompted calls for speedy vaccination roll-outs before mutations can become widespread
- The UK strain – also known as the B.1.1.7 lineage – is thought to have first emerged in September, according to the United States’ CDC
Some of the 17 mutations that characterise the more infectious strain – eight of which are on the spike protein – were found as early as March and April, according to a report whose authors include BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin. It analysed about 150,000 sequences collected from around the world through early October.
Only about 14 per cent of those samples contained the same exact spike protein as the coronavirus strain that first emerged from Wuhan, the researchers found. That version of the virus has been the target of most therapies and vaccines developed over the past year.
“These findings demonstrate the increasing importance of monitoring Sars-CoV-2 sequences for an early detection of variants,” the authors said. Sahin wrote the report with five other authors from the University of Mainz and it has not yet been peer reviewed.