Scientists are still learning how the mutations have changed the virus. What is a Variant? "A virus is essentially like all living things. "We have to think about the B.1.1.7 variant as almost a brand-new virus," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. However, more infections from a faster-spreading variant will lead to more deaths,” he notes. A variant identified in the U.K. (B.1.1.7). This COVID-19 variant appears to spread more easily and might have an increased risk of death. When a virus is widely circulating in a population and causing many infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. Viruses constantly change through mutations that create new strains of virus (called variants) over time. A mutation allows this version of the virus … A highly infectious coronavirus variant that was first detected in the U.K. is now rapidly spreading in the U.S. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/health/variants-coronavirus-new-popping Most variants do not have a meaningful impact. What causes a virus to change to a new variant? Some virus variants emerge and then disappear, while others persist or become common. This variant appears to spread more easily. The UK variant known as B.1.1.7, for example, currently is thought to be 50% more transmissible than the "wild-type" (or natural) strain of the coronavirus, she noted. “If we get too sick or die quickly from a particular virus, the virus has less opportunity to infect others. The distinction between a variant and a strain hinges on whether the virus in question behaves in a distinct way, according to Dr. Adam Lauring, who studies the evolution of RNA viruses at … On the other hand, mutations that make a virus more deadly may not give the virus an opportunity to spread efficiently. A virus with one or more new mutations is referred to as a “variant” of the original virus. ; A variant identified in South Africa (B.1.351). It evolves in a way that it picks up mutations," says Dr. Engelthaler. This highly contagious variant is also fueling the spread of the virus in Europe and has been found in 114 countries. https://answers.childrenshospital.org/covid-19-virus-variant The variant has 23 mutations, compared with the version that erupted in Wuhan, China, a …