NCOC confirms detection of new variant of coronavirus in two patients

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has disclosed that B117, the new variant of the coronavirus, has been detected in two patients in Pakistan, on Monday.

The channel reported that the NIH has confirmed the presence of a new variant of the virus in two persons who had arrived in the country from the UK. B117 had first been reported in the UK last month. According to the NCOC, the virus later travelled to 31 other countries.  

The virus that was first identified in the UK on December 8, 2020 started causing mayhem not only in the UK but elsewhere in Europe as well prompting PM Boris Johnson to announce stricter lockdown measures, saying the strain, which goes by the name B.1.1.7, appears to be better at spreading between people.

The news led many Londoners to leave the city, before the new rules take effect, causing overcrowded railway stations.

The mutated strain, B117, is linked to the change in the structure of the protein spikes on the virus that help it to attach itself to human cells. This mutation has enabled the virus to infect cells at a much faster rate.