JAKARTA – The report of British health authorities regarding the discovery of a new genetic mutation from COVID-19 is in the public spotlight. The reason is, this genetic mutation is said to make the corona virus or SARS-CoV-2 spread more quickly in society.
Previously, British Health Minister Matt Hancock said that if there were more than 1,000 cases of the new variant of COVID-19 found in the community. Reporting from New Scientist, the spread of this new variant of COVID-19 has also been found in 60 regions in the UK.
British Chief Medical Officer Chriss Whitty said that the mutation that occurs in the corona virus makes it more contagious. Even so, evidence regarding the transmission of the genetic mutation of COVID-19 still needs to be carried out further research.
Previously, WHO also said that mutations against the corona virus were no longer new. The reason is, the virus will continue to grow over time.
Summarized by Liputan6.com from various sources, here are some facts regarding the new mutation of COVID-19, Monday (21/12/2020).
Faster spreading
The existence of genetic mutations in the corona virus is said to make the spread faster. Chris Whitty also said that the data on confirmed COVID-19 patients in the UK had increased quite rapidly. A number of coronavirus advisers in the UK have also concluded that this new variant of COVID-19 is transmitting the virus more quickly.
Identified early December 2020
Some British scientists say that this new variant of the corona virus mutates in the spike protein on the surface of the virus. This causes the virus to stick to and enter the human body. In fact, due to this genetic change, the spread of the COVID-19 virus spreads more rapidly by 70 percent than usual.
The new COVID-19 virus was detected in early 2020. In fact, the British health authorities are calling this new virus as VUI-202012/01. Not only that, in mid-December 2020 there were more than 1000 confirmed cases of the new COVID-19 variant.
Five types of COVID-19 mutations
Previously, researchers at the Edinburgh University, England said that the corona virus can mutate in five types. The five types of new mutations from COVID-19 are said to have had different levels. It is even suspected that there is a mutation of the corona virus which is capable of damaging other mutations of the corona virus in the body, causing a person to be treated intensively.
The five types of mutations for COVID-19 are TYK2, OAS1, CCR2, IFNAR2 and DPP9. In fact, since COVID-19 was discovered at the end of 2019, there have been quite a number of mutations that have started to appear in several countries.
Status out of control
British Health Minister Matt Hancock said that the government had imposed a lockdown during the strict Christmas period in London and south-east England, the reason was because the new strain of the Corona COVID-19 Virus was “ out of control ”.
“We acted very quickly and decisively,” Hancock told Sky News.
“Unfortunately the new strain is out of control. We have to control it.”
(source: liputan6.com)
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