Things are getting complicated with variants.

The problem is that there are not one or two variants - there are many.

A short thread on varaints and mutations. (Naming them after places isn't great, as things get complicated very quickly.)

There are lots and lots of variants. They are sequenced in labs. I understand that the UK sequences between 5 and 10% of samples. This is great for surveillance of new variants.

The data ends up here. https://www.cogconsortium.uk/ 

The diagram on the COG webpage represents the 'lineages' of variants. There are lots of them.

You can think of these as family trees.

As with families, the further you go back on the lineage, things 'get complicated'.

You may find that you are in fact related to Auntie Jackie's sister's brother's boy

And that's what seems to be happening - things are getting complicated.

We now see that some sequences containing the 'UK variant' (B1.1.7) has a mutation (E484K) that has previously been found in 'the South African' and 'the Japan via Brazil' variants

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-cov-2-variant-variant-of-concern-20201201

So, things are getting complicated.

Thankfully the labs are 'on it' https://twitter.com/GuptaR_lab/status/1356514431535054848

and more analysis here https://twitter.com/theosanderson/status/1356310915415760896

One interesting thing to come from the surge testing in parts of the UK will be to find out the distribution of these different sequences.

So it's not so simple to refer to the 'UK variant' or the 'South African' variant. The world is a big place, and the virus variants and mutations are becoming more complex

With high prevalence - anywhere in the world - the risk of new variants becoming more concerning increases.

In the short and medium term - we need to vaccinate the population.

And not just the population of the UK - the population of the world.