A call for more studies to detect virus variants

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday urged scientists around the world to step up genomic sequencing of coronavirus samples to ensure that new variants are detected and studied.

A new variant has been detected in Britain and South Africa, and modeling studies by researchers in the United Kingdom suggest it may be up to two times more infectious than earlier versions of the virus.

But other scientists have pushed back on that assertion as they continue to study the implications of its changes.

For instance, a particular version of a virus can become dominant if it is a “founder” strain — the f irst one to take hold and start spreading in an area — or because super- spreader events helped it become widely established.

So far, there are no indications that the new variant causes people to develop more serious cases of COVID- 19 or that it increases their risk of death.

Still, its discovery has triggered a slew of travel restrictions, including a requirement that travelers f lying from Britain to the U. S. get a negative coronavirus test before boarding their f light.

With the pandemic entering its second year, WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “there will be setbacks and new challenges in the year ahead — for example new variants of COVID- 19 and helping people who are tired of the pandemic continue to combat it.”

He said that the WHO is working closely with scientists to “better understand any and all changes to the virus” and their effect.

Tedros said he wanted to “underscore the importance of increasing genomic sequencing capacity worldwide” and of sharing information with the U. N. health agency and other countries.

“Only if countries are looking and testing effectively will you be able to pick up variants and adjust strategies to cope,” he said.

Many of the changes in Britain strain affect the coronavirus’ spike protein, which is a target of COVID- 19 vaccines.

Health officials in the U. S. and elsewhere have said the current vaccines should work just f ine against the virus, though they are working to confirm that.

“My expectation is, this will not be a problem,” said Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief science advisor for the U. S. government’s COVID- 19 vaccine campaign.