COVID: should we start wearing masks again?

By Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology, University of Reading

One thing that can be guaranteed about COVID is that evolution will provide us with a more or less constant stream of new coronavirus variants, some of which will be more successful at infecting people. Talk of mutations sounds scary and it can lead to serious problems, but it would be a mistake to think that it’s always the case.

BA.2.86 (nicknamed pirola) is one such new variant that has aroused concern from some doctors and scientists because of the high number of mutations in its spike protein, the…

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