A new strain of COVID named AY.4.2 has started spreading in the UK, the Financial Times wrote citing scientist Jeffrey Barrett of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge and François Ballou, director of the Institute of Genetics at the University of London
The AY.4.2 strain was first identified in July 2021. According to scientists, the virus has several new mutations – affecting the protein it uses to enter cells – and it is 10-15% more infectious than the delta strain.
Among the reasons given for the emergence of the new variant of the coronavirus are the lack of adherence to anti-epidemiological measures – masking and social distance – and the small number of staff who have been transferred to remote work.
Already one in ten cases of coronavirus infection in the UK has been attributed to the new strain.