Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan;26(1):2002106.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.26.1.2002106.

Early transmissibility assessment of the N501Y mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, October to November 2020

Affiliations

Early transmissibility assessment of the N501Y mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, October to November 2020

Kathy Leung et al. Euro Surveill. 2021 Jan.

Erratum in

  • Addendum for Euro Surveill. 2021;26(1).
    Eurosurveillance editorial team. Eurosurveillance editorial team. Euro Surveill. 2021 Jan;26(3):210121a. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.3.210121a. Euro Surveill. 2021. PMID: 33478624 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Two new SARS-CoV-2 lineages with the N501Y mutation in the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein spread rapidly in the United Kingdom. We estimated that the earlier 501Y lineage without amino acid deletion Δ69/Δ70, circulating mainly between early September and mid-November, was 10% (6-13%) more transmissible than the 501N lineage, and the 501Y lineage with amino acid deletion Δ69/Δ70, circulating since late September, was 75% (70-80%) more transmissible than the 501N lineage.

Keywords: 20B/501Y.V1; COVID-19; N501Y; SARS-CoV-2; United Kingdom; VOC-202012/01; fitness; lineage B.1.1.7; spike protein; transmissibility.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogeny of SARS-CoV-2 showing the emergence of 501Y lineages, United Kingdom and other regions, as at 19 December 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
Observed daily number and weekly proportion of SARS-CoV-2 501N, 501Y Variant 1 and 501Y Variant 2a sequences during their co-circulation, by dates of sampling, (A) United Kingdom, (B) England, (C) Wales, (D) Scotland and Northern Ireland, 22 September–1 December 2020
Figure 3
Figure 3
Observed and fitted proportion of SARS-CoV-2 (A) 501Y Variant 1 and (B) 501Y Variant 2a sequences during their co-circulation with SARS-CoV-2 501N, United Kingdom, 22 September–16 November 2020

References

    1. Leung K, Lipsitch M, Yuen KY, Wu JT. Monitoring the fitness of antiviral-resistant influenza strains during an epidemic: a mathematical modelling study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2017;17(3):339-47. 10.1016/S1473-3099(16)30465-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Leung K, Pei Y, Leung GM, Lam TT, Wu JT. Empirical transmission advantage of the D614G mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2; medRxiv 2020. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.22.20199810 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rambaut A, Loman N, Pybus O, Barclay W, Barrett J, Carabelli A, et al. Preliminary genomic characterisation of an emergent SARS-CoV-2 lineage in the UK defined by a novel set of spike mutations. Virological; 2020. Available from: https://virological.org/t/preliminary-genomic-characterisation-of-an-eme...
    1. Public Health England (PHE). Investigation of novel SARS-COV-2 variant: Variant of Concern 202012/01: Technical briefing document on novel SARS-CoV-2 variant. London: PHE; 21 Dec 2020. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-c...
    1. COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium. COG-UK 2020-12-20: SARS-CoV-2 in the UK. London: Microreact. [Accessed: 19 Dec 2020]. Available from: https://beta.microreact.org/project/7AJj5nS4JMCNYuxL9WCaz4-cog-uk-2020-1...

Publication types

Substances