After a refreshing week off, we’re back into the fray. Something that is nearly constantly astounding to me is the speed with which the news moves these days. I made notes about what seemed to be the most important story in the world before I took a week off for Christmas and it has simply slid out of the news cycle and into oblivion.
Here is some encouraging news about the new variant's potential infectiousness from Prof Balloux at UCL Genetics Institute:
"The new 'UK #SARSCoV2 variant' (lineage B 1.1.7) which has recently gone up in frequency in the UK has been identified in numerous countries including in Denmark, where its frequency remained at ~1% in mid-December."
"If the 'UK variant' were more contagious, its frequency should increase wherever it is present. Otherwise what we're likely observing are random inter-lineage fluctuations, typical of epidemics (see lower panel below; UK variant in dark orange)."
Here is some encouraging news about the new variant's potential infectiousness from Prof Balloux at UCL Genetics Institute:
"The new 'UK #SARSCoV2 variant' (lineage B 1.1.7) which has recently gone up in frequency in the UK has been identified in numerous countries including in Denmark, where its frequency remained at ~1% in mid-December."
"If the 'UK variant' were more contagious, its frequency should increase wherever it is present. Otherwise what we're likely observing are random inter-lineage fluctuations, typical of epidemics (see lower panel below; UK variant in dark orange)."
https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1343842042754039813
However, the vaccines' effectiveness against the new strain is yet to be determined.