UK Detects New Delta COVID-19 Mutation

Health authorities in the UK detected a new descendant of the globally emerged Delta COVID-19 variant, and the new strain drove another surge in the daily recorded numbers of infections, and deaths, regardless of the kingdom's vaccination milestone, Sputnik reported on Wednesday.

Six percent of the recently reported COVID-19 infections are caused by the new Delta strain, AY.4.2. The latest identified mutation of Delta was known as Delta +. However, the same term will be applied to the lately discovered strain.

“A Delta sublineage newly designated as AY. 4.2 is noted to be expanding in England. It is now a signal in monitoring and assessment has commenced,” a report by the UK Health Agency highlighted.

It added: “New sublineages of Delta are regularly identified and designated. One recently designated sublineage, AY. 4.2, is not yet assigned by the Pangolin tool and therefore is not represented in Figure 10."

“This sublineage is currently increasing in frequency. It includes spike mutations A222V and Y145H. In the week beginning 27 September 2021 (the last week with complete sequencing data), this sublineage accounted for approximately 6 percent of all sequences generated, on an increasing trajectory," the report concluded.

Officials did not recognize the new variant as a variant of concern, or a strain under investigation, however, all required tests and examinations are on the way.

Until now, all vaccines are effective against the new strain, however, the latest mutations could give it more advantages which could need more studies.

It is worthy to mention that the latest emerged COVID-19 strains globally, alongside Delta, were Lambda that emerged in Latin America, and Mu in Asia.