A new coronavirus variant—currently known as B.1.621—is under investigation in the U.K., after 16 confirmed cases have been found. Public Health England announced Friday, after being discovered in a handful of other countries, including the U.S., as the country struggles to deal with rising cases driven by the infectious Delta variant after dropping most pandemic restrictions earlier this week. The variant is known as B.1.621. The authorities have clarified that not much has been known about this variant and there is no evidence to suggest that it might make vaccines less effective or lead to more severe illness so that the new strain does not spread fears among people. In January, the variant was first identified in Colombia. "Most of the cases have been linked to overseas travel and there is currently no evidence of community transmission in the UK," the Independent reported.
The Covid-19 situation in the United Kingdom worsened in the last few weeks which has been attributed to the Delta variant of the virus. Despite the surge in the cases, Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in the UK this week. On Saturday, Britain reported 31,794 coronavirus cases. Reports said the R rate of coronavirus in the UK is around 1.2 and 1.4 which means one infected person can spread the infection to more than one person. The infection rate in private households of England has also been the highest since January. It is expected and natural that viruses will mutate over time. It is the reason flu shots are changed on a yearly basis. The virus that causes Covid-19 is no exception and many different versions have been detected that differ from the first one identified in China. While many mutations do not change the virus’ behavior, some can and do, which is how more infectious, more lethal or more vaccine-resistant variants emerge. The dominant viruses in circulation today differ from that first detected in Wuhan, with successive iterations of more infectious variants taking over.