UK-variant of Covid will likely become world's dominant strain

Date21 December 2020
Published date21 December 2020
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Sage, told Sky News: “I suspect it will, or strains like it will become dominant.

“Because the virus has the evolutionary advantage in transmitting more quickly, it will out-compete all the other strains, and so it will naturally do that.

“As immunity comes into the community more widely, then you’ll start to see more pressure on the virus and you’re more likely to see other escapes of other variations.

“This is not a surprise, we deal with this with influenza year-on-year.

“The flu vaccine typically contains three or four flavours of the influenza virus and we simply pick on a best-guess basis each season and then people that make the vaccines scale up in...

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