UK: coronavirus variant B.1.617.2 within hours of outcompeting B.1.1.7 in Britain

Asia, B.1.1.7, B.1.617, B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, B.1.617.3, Coronavirus, D614G, Delta, E484K, England, Health, India, Infection, L452R, London, N501Y, Northern Ireland, P681H, Science, Scotland, T478K, Testing, UK, Variants, Wales

Well that escalated quickly. It took just a little over one month to do it, but B.1.617.2 is now just hours away from outcompeting B.1.1.7 (aka the UK or Kent variant) on a national scale in Great Britain.

Let’s not forget that B.1.1.7 virtually conquered the globe after being discovered in Britain in September 2020.  B117 Infections started to climb rapidly in Britain in December 2020, and it became the dominant sars-cov-2 variant in many countries across the globe shortly thereafter. Now, barely 5 months later, it is being dethroned by a variant that carries neither of the signature sars-cov-2 mutations that were of such concern in the existing VOC’s – E484K and N501Y.

 

This is the same B.1.617.2 / B.1.1.7 chart for India:

 

Charts courtesy of outbreak.info

 

UPDATE 24th May 2021:

UK: eleven vaccine breakthrough cases reported for B.1.617.2

 

OLDER POSTS:

UK: eleven vaccine breakthrough cases reported for B.1.617.2

 

UK: eleven vaccine breakthrough cases reported for B.1.617.2

** This post was originally published on May 21, 2021 **