UK most likely place in the world for mutant coronavirus variant

The United Kingdom is the most likely place in the world where a mutant strain of the coronavirus will occur due to the prevailing conditions. The junior health minister James Nicholas Bethell said, “If there's one place in the world where a mutant variation is likely to happen it will be in an area where you have a high infection rate and a large amount of suppression of the virus by either a lockdown or a vaccine programme." He added that around the world that country would likely be Britain. 

UK most likely to get affected by mutant COVID-19 variant

He said, "If you look around the world that country is most likely to be Britain and we must be on the balls of our feet to be prepared for unhelpful news on that front." The health minister made this statement in response to the comments made by a top scientist who had warned the risk of a new variant against which there was no defence was "eventually likely to be inevitable". The health minister also talked about vaccination in the UK, "We are not post vaccine. We are at best mid vaccine - 20 million people is an enormous achievement but we have a long way to go."

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In the House of Lords, Lord Winston had earlier said, “Within six hours of entering a cell, this virus will have replicated leading to millions of copies." He said that some copies will be imperfect, the so-called variants and time is of the essence. He added, "The risk of dangerous new variants to which we have no defence is actually eventually likely to be inevitable.” He went on to brand the red list system for travellers as “ludicrous and ineffectual”, stating that the government should work to ensure the tens of thousands of people entering the UK daily are screened and tracked before they are lost within minutes somewhere in the British city. 

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New COVID variant found in UK

In the meantime, British scientists have identified and are investigating a new variant of the COVID-19 virus in the United Kingdom. According to BBC, so far 16 cases of the new coronavirus variant have been detected in the country, the first of which was identified on February 15. The new strain of the COVID-19 virus is being referred to as VUI-202102/04, where VUI stands for 'virus under investigation'. The new variant was reportedly designated VUI on February 24, about ten days after it was first found. 

Public Health England (PHE) on Thursday said that all individuals who have tested positive for the new variant have been isolated, including those who came in contact with them. "The addition of this variant as a VUI means there are now a total of 4 VUIs and 4 VOCs (variants of concern) currently being tracked in the UK," PHE said in a press release on March 4. As of Wednesday, there were 59 cases of South African variant and 26 cases of Brazil variant in the United Kingdom.