The UK severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant, also known as the B.1.1.7 variant, has been spreading since October 2020. Since then, it has reached many countries worldwide.
The UK variant is confirmed to be transmissible than earlier strains, and recent studies revealed that it may even cause more severe illness.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Santa Fe Institute in the US used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) data from a surveillance testing program on a large university campus to estimate how fast the new variant spreads. The team used the data to provide local situational information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
