“Our working assumption from all the scientists is that the vaccine response should be adequate for this virus,” Sir Patrick Vallance, the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser,
“Whilst it may not be actually resistant, it may not take so many changes after this for it to get there,”
Growth rate from genomic data: which suggest a growth rate of VUI-202012/01 that
that is 71% (95%CI: 67%-75%) higher than other variants.
It was noted that VUI-202012/01 has demonstrated exponential growth during a period when national lockdown measures were in place.
With infection levels rising rapidly, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Saturday news conference that London and the U.K.’s southeast would be put under the strictest lockdown rules, known as “Tier 4.”