New coronavirus strain may infect children more easily, scientists fear

Earlier strains of coronavirus found it harder to infect children than adults, with one explanation being that children have fewer of the doorways called the ACE2 receptor the virus uses to enter a human body's cells.

A new mutant strain of coronavirus which is spreading rapidly in the UK and many other parts of the world could infect children more easily, scientists have warned.

Briefing reporters on the latest findings, scientists from the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) who are tracking the variant said it had swiftly become the dominant strain in the south of Britain and could do the same across the country.

The emergence of the mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant, which scientists say is up to 70% more transmissible than previous strains in the UK, has prompted some countries to close their borders with Britain and pushed large areas of the country into severe restrictions over the New Year period.

The New Strain Is Dangerous For The Children

Earlier strains of coronavirus found it harder to infect children than adults, with one explanation being that children have fewer of the doorways called the ACE2 receptor the virus uses to enter a human body's cells.

Professor Wendy Barclay, from Nervtag and Imperial College London, said the mutations to the virus appeared to be making it easier to breach those doorways.

"Therefore children are equally susceptible, perhaps, to this virus as adults, and therefore given their mixing patterns, you would expect to see more children being infected," she explained.

Experts do not believe that the new version is any greater threat to children's health and the scientist behind the world's first approved vaccine against COVID-19 has said the Pfizer/BioNTech jabs will work against the strain, though further investigation remains underway.

New Covid Strain - What Do We Know So Far!

The mutated coronavirus strain that's been spreading in the UK is 56% more transmissible than other strains, according to the study by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The variant was identified in genomic surveillance by COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK), a consortium that analyses genome sequencing data from the UK. COG-UK is the largest contributor to the global Covid-19 database GISAID.

The variant is the result of multiple mutations in the spike protein of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as well as mutations in other genomic regions of the RNA virus. Preliminary analysis suggests that it is more transmissible than previously circulating variants. COG-UK identified one of these mutations as "N501Y", in an area of the spike protein that binds to a key protein in the human cell, the ACE2 receptor. This was an indication that the alterations may, theoretically, result in the virus becoming more infectious.

Symptoms Of The New Covid Virus Variant

Besides the three most common symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, dry cough and loss of sense of smell and taste, 7 other symptoms have been associated with the new strain of coronavirus. Following are the signs you should watch out for.

- Fatigue

- Loss of appetite

- Headache

- Diarrhoea

- Mental confusion

- Muscle pains