Coronavirus: WHO monitoring new variant called ‘Mu’
- Mu, first identified in Colombia, has been classified as a variant of interest
- The WHO has identified four Covid-19 variants of concern, including Delta
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The World Health Organization said it was monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as “Mu”, which was first identified in Colombia in January.
Mu, known scientifically as B. 1.621, has been classified as a “variant of interest”, the global health body said on Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin.
The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to better understand it.
“The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” the bulletin said.
British study shows risk of hospitalisation doubles with Delta
There is widespread concern over the emergence of new virus mutations as infection rates are ticking up globally again, with the highly transmissible Delta variant taking hold – especially among the unvaccinated – and in regions where antivirus measures have been relaxed.
All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19, mutate over time and most mutations have little or no effect on the properties of the virus.
But certain mutations can impact the properties of a virus and influence how easily it spreads, the severity of the disease it causes, and its resistance to vaccines, drugs and other countermeasures.
The WHO currently identifies four Covid-19 variants of concern, including Alpha, which is present in 193 countries, and Delta, present in 170 countries.
Five variants, including Mu, are to be monitored.
After being detected in Colombia, Mu has since been reported in other South American countries and in Europe.
The WHO said its global prevalence has declined to below 0.1 per cent among sequenced cases. In Colombia, however, it is at 39 per cent.
Sinopharm is working on an updated vaccine for variants
The so-called C.1.2. variant was first identified in May in the South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Gauteng, where Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, are situated, the scientists said in a research paper. It’s since been found in seven other countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe.
C.1.2. evolved from C.1., a lineage of the virus that dominated infections in the first wave of the virus in South Africa in mid-2020.
The research was published by South African groups including the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, known as Krisp, and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
South African scientists also discovered the Beta variant in 2020, but have been keen to stress that the country’s advanced ability to sequence the genomes of the virus means that while new strains may be identified in the country, they could have originated elsewhere.
Agence France-Presse and Tribune News Service
