More ‘super-Covid’ mutant strains are coming as global surge of cases lets virus thrive, scientists warn
MORE coronavirus 'super variants' could be on the way as infection rates continue to rise globally.
There have been over three million cases of Covid-19 in the UK to date and globally that toll sits at nearly 94 million.
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Scientists in the US have also discovered another variant in the midwest called 20C-US and scientists say it could be responsible for 50 per cent of cases in the US.
New variants can cause issues for scientists creating vaccines as it's not yet clear whether or not vaccines that have already been developed will work due to a mutation in spike protein.
There are fears the new mutations will be able to dodge the immune system, even after vaccination or previous infection.
Professor Sharon Peacock, who is leading research into new variants in the UK, said some mutations are of "sufficient" concern to need in-depth research in the laboratory.
And the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance admitted “we don’t know for sure” if the vaccines being rolled out on the NHS will work on the strains from Brazil and South Africa.
He told ITV's Peston: “There’s a bit more of a risk that this might make a change to the way the immune system recognizes it but we don’t know.
"Those experiments are underway,” Sir Patrick said.
The vaccines being used in the UK work by instructing the body's own cells to produce spike proteins found on the surface of the virus.
The immune system spots these proteins and develops killer antibodies.
When the real virus comes along, the immune system has a memory of the "spike" on the surface, and is primed to attack it.
However a change in the shape of the spike protein makes it more difficult for the immune system to recognise the virus.
It is also unknown whether or not the vaccines already in production will be effective against the strains in the US.
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Dr Keith Gagnon, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at SIU said based on the way the virus has mutated so far - vaccines and their efficacy should not be effected.
He added: 'The catch is that the virus continues to evolve, and since May, it has acquired three mutations, and two of them are in the spike protein, one of which might affect antibody binding. There are a lot of unknowns."