UK Coronavirus Mutation ‘Very Likely’ Detected in the Czech Republic

“There is a concrete suspicion of the British virus strain in the country,” Czech authorities said today in a statement.

The National Reference Laboratory for Influenza (SZÚ) detected the new variant of the coronavirus during the analysis of PCR test results.

“We need to be cautious and monitoring how the epidemic will continue to spread, the mutation is spreading faster,” commented Roman Prymula, epidemiologist and health adviser to the Prime Minister.

“It is not necessary to tighten the anti-epidemic measures. However, there is a certain risk that more contagious mutations will place an even greater burden on hospitals and the health care system.”

“In most European countries the British virus strain is already circulating,” adds Prymula.

The ‘UK variant’

Researchers who’ve measured and modeled the U.K. variant’s powers have found no reason to believe it makes people sicker once it invades their bodies.

Nor does it appear to reduce the time that it takes for a newly infected person to be able to spread the virus — a development that could generate fast-moving waves of new patients.

And other new research strengthens the case that the COVID-19 vaccines being administered across the world should protect against the new variant.

But other findings are more ominous. Using many distinct methods to track the U.K. variant and compare it to its predecessors, two groups of researchers have concluded that the new strain’s rapid growth across Britain cannot be dismissed as a fluke.