January 8, 2021

Early Transmissibility Assessment of the N501Y Mutant Strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, October to November 2020

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Modeling and Prediction

Keywords (Tags): mutation, transmission

A model incorporating information from genome sequencing and other epidemiological data suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 mutant strain 501Y Variant 2, which became the dominant strain in England in November and December 2020, has an R₀ 1.75-times that of the 501N variant, meaning that it is 75% more transmissible. Because of limited genetic sequence data, the authors were not able to quantify the transmissibility of the South African 501Y variant.

Leung et al. (Jan 7, 2021). Early Transmissibility Assessment of the N501Y Mutant Strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, October to November 2020. Eurosurveillance. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.26.1.2002106