Scientists found this mutation in some patient samples collected recently.

`Thus, it helps nCoV overcome the immune barrier created by the vaccine,` said Francois Balloux, professor of biology, University College London.

Experts are urgently testing vaccines against the South African variant, and are expected to expand the program to areas in the UK where the B.1.1.7 variant with the same E484K mutation appears.

Dr. Julian Tang, a virus expert at the University of Leicester, commented that this is a `worrying phenomenon, but not too unusual`.

`Otherwise, the virus will not only continue to spread but also evolve further,` he said.

Researcher at Aalborg University in Denmark analyzes samples of nCoV variant B.1.1.7, December 2020.

If it continues to spread, the virus will reach a certain threshold of change, creating a series of different variants circulating at the same time.

Even in a worst-case scenario, the vaccine could be tweaked within months to accommodate the new variant, experts say.

Former British Health Minister Jeremy Hunt said vaccination work should be accelerated as quickly as possible, ahead of the virus.

The British variant was announced in December 2020, and was the cause of infection in southeast England at that time.

The British variant has 17 mutations (now a new mutation has been discovered), the speed of change to adapt to the environment is also faster, according to scientists’ observations.

According to a survey by the British Office for National Statistics, people infected with the new variant have more muscle pain, sore throat, fatigue and cough than before.

The outbreak has been breaking out in Vietnam for the past 7 days, related to the epidemic areas of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh and then infecting 8 other provinces and cities, also due to infection with the British variant.