20-05-2021
WHO
We spoke to Dr Richard Pebody, who leads the High-threat Pathogen team at WHO/Europe, to find out more about why the COVID-19 virus changes, what implications this has for public health, and what you as an individual can do to help and to stay safe.
Why do viruses change?
“First of all, I’d like to say that all viruses, including the COVID-19 virus, change over time as a natural phenomenon. Having said that, new variants of concern continue to challenge our pandemic response.
“When a virus replicates or makes copies of itself as it spreads, the virus genome (the set of genetic instructions for the organism) often changes a little bit. These changes are called mutations, and are usually not significant. A virus with one or several new mutations is referred to as a variant of the original virus.