The spectrum and rate of excess mutations (assuming they all came in one step) is similar to what has been recorded elsewhere in immunocompromised people chronically infected for a month or two straight, in which there’s more time for multiple lineages to coexist in the same body and compete with selection against each other and a longer time with high viral numbers without transmission bottlenecks.
Some expert commentary here: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/mutant-coronavirus-united-kingdom-sets-alarms-its-importance-remains-unclear
Noteworthy:
We previously thought a strain from Spain was spreading faster than the rest but it was just because og people returning from holiday in Spain.
Chance events can help a strain spread faster.
The UK (and Denmark) do more gene sequencing than other countries—that may explain why they picked up the new variant first.
The strain has acquired 17 mutations at once which is very high. Not clear what that means.
The spectrum and rate of excess mutations (assuming they all came in one step) is similar to what has been recorded elsewhere in immunocompromised people chronically infected for a month or two straight, in which there’s more time for multiple lineages to coexist in the same body and compete with selection against each other and a longer time with high viral numbers without transmission bottlenecks.