What is the new Covid strain – and will vaccines work against it?

Testing of the new variant will take weeks, but scientists don’t expect it to cause more severe disease or be resistant to the vaccineCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageViruses mutate all the time. Most of the new variants die out. Sometimes they spread without altering the virus’s behaviour. Very occasionally, they trigger dramatic changes.And the question now facing scientists is straightforward: does variant VUI-202012/01 fall into this last category? Does it represent an increased health risk? Or has its recent rapid spread through southern England occurred because it has arisen in people who are infecting a lot of other people, possibly because they are ignoring Covid-19 restrictions? Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/19/what-is-the-new-covid-strain-and-will-vaccines-work-against-it #coronavirus #science #infectious_diseases #uk_news #microbiology #medical_research