Infectious
According to researchers at the British laboratory Porton Down, the new virus strain "VUI 202012/01" can be up to 70 percent more contagious than the old variant.
According to the researchers, however, there is still "significant uncertainty" about how contagious the new virus strain is.
Resistance
According to the UK's chief medical officer Chris Whitty, there is currently no indication that medical treatments or vaccines would work worse on the new virus variant.
Sweden
In Sweden, there are no established cases of the new virus variant according to the random samples made by the Swedish Public Health Agency among virus samples from the regions.
Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of department at the Swedish Public Health Agency, points out, however, that the agency has so far only tested a few samples from November and December and that it is not possible to make any definite conclusions about the new virus strain in Sweden.
In Sweden, the dominant virus strain since October is "B.1.177".
It is also the virus variant that was most common in Europe during the autumn.
Virus mutation
It is normal for viruses to mutate and covid-19 is thought to have mutated thousands of times.