WORRISOME—Key things on new Flag of United Kingdom VUI-202012/01 #SARSCoV2 mutation: —Likely more infectious, possibly up to 70% faster transmission. —R0 increase of ~ +0.4 —23 unique changes, many in spike protein. —Comprises 62% of recent London cases, 43-59% E/SE.

 

2) “Professor Whitty said there was "no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments", but work was under way to confirm this.”

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 20, 2020

4) More on vaccine escape question—“COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium said it is difficult to predict whether any given mutation is important when it first emerges, but agreed that biggest concern was any changes that lead to increase in reinfections or vaccine failure.”

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 20, 2020