The new Variant Under Investigation (VUI) was re-designated Variant of Concern (VOC) 202012/01 on 18 December

This is an excellent report by @PHE_UK, but it’s a bit technical so I’ll try to unpick it for you

https://t.co/M9f3zaimF5

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The team at @PHE_uk begin by explaining that on 8 Dec they investigated the surge in cases in the South of England. Only 4% (255/6130) of Kent cases had genetic sequence data, but of these 117 genetically similar cases had been collected between 10-18 Nov

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When looking at national data, these 117 cases were part of a larger cluster of 962 (to 8 Dec) in Kent, NE London, plus a few in rest London, Anglia, Essex

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915 or the 962 cases had additional data: 828 were from November, 79 in Oct, 4 from Sept

90% were from <60 years old (further detail not yet available here)

6 patients had already died

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As of 20 Dec, most cases were in London, the SE and East of England.

Of note, 3 of the main testing labs use a PCR test for 3 different viral genes: N, ORF1ab, S.

The new VOC has a mutation that makes this test negative for S (spike), but positive for the others.

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