Recently in the United Kingdom then in South Africa, a mutation of the COVID-19 virus was found which was significantly more contagious than other strains. Elsewhere in the world strong measures were implemented to prevent a crisis, for example, in Hong Kong, inbound flights from those countries were banned outright. What exactly is virus mutation? How frightened should we be?
A new strain will extinguish humanity?
For most people, the knowledge of the term “virus mutation” comes from impressions of Hollywood movies. There is usually an apocalyptic plot with a new form of virus killing a lot of people or turning them into zombies. From the perspective of microbiology, however, mutation of viruses happens on a daily basis across many species of virus, from influenza, avian flu, to the deadly Ebola and HIV. Mutation occurs during virus replication when either there is an error with the cloning, or the virus itself needs to adapt to a new environment.
Three things to know about mutation
As the new virus emerges and begins to spread across the continents, what should we be aware of?
Three things to know about mutation
As the new virus emerges and begins to spread across the continents, what should we be aware of?
1. Transmissibility
Transmissibility is how contagious a virus is. It is noted that the transmissibility of the new mutated strain of virus in the United Kingdom and South Africa surges by 70% and has caused large-scale outbreaks. Countries and regions, including Hong Kong, stopped incoming flights to prevent the mutated strain from spreading.
2. Virulence
Virulence is how lethal a virus is. Scary as the name sounds, mutated virus is not necessary more toxic. The new strain in England is not more damaging to the human body. On the contrary, a mutated virus tends to be more symbiotic with the host – in this case, human, as killing the host is not beneficial to breeding in the perspective of evolution theory.
3. Vaccine effectiveness
Are the recently approved vaccines still effective over mutated strain? Based on current information, scientists believe the vaccine still offer protection from it. Since we have developed a reasonable scientific foundation on COVID inoculation, even if a new strain becomes resistant to the vaccine, it is not difficult to quickly create a new jab against it.
Overall, we should be alert over the virus mutation but need not panic or be too worried about it. In addition to the usual vigilant measures such as wearing masks, performing hand hygiene and social distancing, we should also receive vaccination for COVID-19 once it is available, as it would offer us protection and help contribute to the community’s herd immunity.
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