Here are some comments from some distinguished virologists about the significance of the mutation. It is common for coronaviruses to mutate due to mistakes during recombination and possibly also as a process of adaptation to a new host. There is less worry about its affecting vaccine efficacy at this stage, there is still no clear evidence whether it affects virulence and disease severity and some evidence to suggest that it has an advantage over the previous most common variant, as it is quickly replacing it, and that this may be due to higher infectivity. The main effect would be on control measures and test and trace which would have to be boosted to cope with the accelerated rate of transmission.