Under the title "Scientists Reveal a New, More Lethal COVID Variant," Sky News published a report warning that British scientists have identified a new variant of the COVID-19 virus that could cause death at a rate similar to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which kills one in three infected individuals. According to the scientists, this variant poses less risk than MERS to the elderly and those with chronic illnesses.
In a research paper published on Friday, the scientists indicated that it is "almost certain" that the new variant will not be affected by existing COVID-19 vaccines. The document prepared by the British Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies stated that eradicating the virus causing COVID-19 will not be easy and that new variants will continually emerge.
Experts from the group noted that the new variant might result from the recombination of two different new variants, or might stem from currently circulating variants such as Alpha and Delta, according to reports from Sky News UK.
Scientists attributed the potential resistance of the new variant to existing vaccines to a phenomenon known as "antigenic drift," which refers to changes in viruses through the accumulation of mutations within genes that encode for antigen binding sites.
Commenting on the information related to the new variant, epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani described the research paper from the British Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies as a "stark warning." She tweeted: "Immediate preventive measures are essential in light of these developments, as the world can no longer withstand more variants."
