U.K., Jan. 4 -- In December it was announced that a new coronavirus variant was the cause of a rapid rise in infections in the UK. While it is so far not believed to result in more serious disease, it does appear to be substantially more transmissible than other strains.
The B117 variant of Covid-19 has raised serious concerns as the world tries to contain the virus, while scientists are trying to understand how the many mutations - 17 in total - might affect current SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests.
Dr. Manoj Gandhi is the Medical Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific, who have designed Applied BiosystemsTM TaqPathTM, a Covid-19 molecular diagnostic test that can detect the virus even when mutations in the genome arise. "Mutations are the nor...