I have tried to investigate and after much search (and having a question on r/askscience about it closed due to this being easily googleable) this is a summary of what I have found:
Apparently the mutation in the spike protein and the receptor binding domain lets the virus ‘easier’ bind to the ACE2 receptor sites and thus infect the cells.
So for a given amount of exposure you have a higher risk of getting infected with B.1.1.7 as compared to the old strain.
So bad news, I guess. There does not seem to be any low-hanging fruit here. Only harder restrictions (and more vaccinations) will help.
I have tried to investigate and after much search (and having a question on r/askscience about it closed due to this being easily googleable) this is a summary of what I have found:
Apparently the mutation in the spike protein and the receptor binding domain lets the virus ‘easier’ bind to the ACE2 receptor sites and thus infect the cells.
So for a given amount of exposure you have a higher risk of getting infected with B.1.1.7 as compared to the old strain.
So bad news, I guess. There does not seem to be any low-hanging fruit here. Only harder restrictions (and more vaccinations) will help.
Best sources was this: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.24.20248822v2.full.pdf and this: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/kjo7zm/how_do_experts_come_to_know_that_the_recent/