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The Guardian - UK

Science

Alex Bellos

Can you solve it? Maths of a hypothetical new Covid variant

A model of a coronavirus COVID 19 particle2BBT8WK A model of a coronavirus COVID 19 particle — A model of a coronavirus COVID 19 particle Photograph: Alamy

The UK’s autumn Covid-19 booster programme is underway, with approximately 26 million people eligible to receive a jab over the next few months.

Today’s puzzle imagines a hypothetical new variant, and asks the solver to think about how it would spread. It was set by Professor Adam Kucharski of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the UK’s leading epidemiologists.

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