S-Gene Target Failure as a Marker of Variant B.1.1.7 Among SARS-CoV-2 Isolates in the Greater Toronto Area, December 2020 to March 2021
A novel variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.7, originally discovered in the UK, is rapidly overtaking wild-type SARS-CoV-2 globally,1 due to a substantial transmission advantage. This variant is estimated to be 40% to 80% more transmissible2 and 35% more lethal3 than the wild-type virus. Deletion of amino acids 69 and 70 within the spike (S) gene of […]