Scientists Are Closely Watching A New Variant Spreading In The UK That Could Be 10% More Infectious Than Delta

Scientist worldwide are closely tracking a new mutation of the highly infectious Delta variant that is currently spreading in the UK.

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According to Englands public-health authority they are monitoring a subtype of the Delta variant called AY.4.2 which is currently infecting a lot of people recently.

Francois Balloux, the director at the University College London Genetics Institute, made a tweet on Saturday saying  “data about AY.4.2 suggested it could be 10% more transmissible than the most common Delta variant in the UK, called AY.4.”

“As such, it feels worthwhile keeping an eye on it,” he shared.

As of September 27, 6% of UK Covid tests were AY.4.2, Public Health England stated in its report on Friday, adding that estimates could rise because it was difficult to sequence the variant’s mutations.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the FDA said the new variant wasn’t an “immediate cause for concern,” but he called for “urgent research” to work out whether it was more infectious or able to avoid the body’s immune response.

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“We should work to more quickly characterize these and other new variants. We have the tools,” he shared with a tweet Saturday. He added that a coordinated, global response was required.

Covid-19 is still continuing to grow across the U.S and this is not the only mutation that has been reported. According to reports, it is now 56 Delta descendants, showed in Scripps Research’s Outbreak.info.