Genomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England

Vöhringer, Harald S., Sanderson, Theo, Sinnott, Matthew, De Maio, Nicola, Nguyen, Thuy, Goater, Richard, Schwach, Frank, Harrison, Ian, Hellewell, Joel, Ariani, Cristina V., Gonçalves, Sonia, Jackson, David K., Johnston, Ian, Jung, Alexander W., Saint, Callum, Sillitoe, John, Suciu, Maria, Goldman, Nick, Panovska-Griffiths, Jasmina, Birney, Ewan, Volz, Erik, Funk, Sebastian, Kwiatkowski, Dominic, Chand, Meera, Martincorena, Inigo, Barrett, Jeffrey C. and Gerstung, Moritz and The Wellcome Sanger Institute Covid-19 Surveillance Team, The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium (2021) Genomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England. Nature, 600 (7889). 506–511. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

The evolution of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus leads to new variants that warrant timely epidemiological characterization. Here we use the dense genomic surveillance data generated by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium to reconstruct the dynamics of 71 different lineages in each of 315 English local authorities between September 2020 and June 2021. This analysis reveals a series of subepidemics that peaked in early autumn 2020, followed by a jump in transmissibility of the B.1.1.7/Alpha lineage. The Alpha variant grew when other lineages declined during the second national lockdown and regionally tiered restrictions between November and December 2020. A third more stringent national lockdown suppressed the Alpha variant and eliminated nearly all other lineages in early 2021. Yet a series of variants (most of which contained the spike E484K mutation) defied these trends and persisted at moderately increasing proportions. However, by accounting for sustained introductions, we found that the transmissibility of these variants is unlikely to have exceeded the transmissibility of the Alpha variant. Finally, B.1.617.2/Delta was repeatedly introduced in England and grew rapidly in early summer 2021, constituting approximately 98% of sampled SARS-CoV-2 genomes on 26 June 2021.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: general ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Nutrition and Preventive Medicine
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Musculoskeletal Medicine
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 24 May 2022 15:00
Last Modified: 22 Nov 2023 04:33
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/85097
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04069-y

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