New Strain Of COVID19 May Spread Across The Globe By End of March

Different Researchers from various corners have in Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Duke Human Vaccine Institute & Department of Surgery have discovered 14 mutations to COVID-19, with one of the strain suspected to be more contagious.

The 33-page report has been uploaded to the bioRxiv preprint server, while waiting to be peer-reviewed.

The researchers revealed that the new strain began spreading in Europe in early February, before migrating to other parts of the world, including the U.S., adding that it became the dominant form of the virus across the globe by the end of March.

They warned that if COVID-19 doesn’t subside in the summer like the seasonal flu, it could mutate further and potentially limit the effectiveness of vaccines being developed by scientists.

According to the team, the study involved analysis of genomes of the virus found in 6,000 infected people from around the globe.

They revealed focusing specifically on the virus genes responsible for producing the “spike protein,” which is the mechanism used by the virus to attach to human cells.

In so doing, they discovered 14 mutations, noting that the one named D614G, stood out because it was found in almost all samples outside of China.

“It was also particularly notable because it appeared to replace a prior mutation called D614,” they said.

The researchers explained that in the original outbreak in China, there were only D614 mutations, noting that it was only after the virus began appearing in Europe that the G614 mutation emerged.

They suggest that the fact that the G614 virus took over from the prior mutation could mean it is more easily spread.

“Notably, after the mutation appeared in Europe, the G614 mutation began appearing in samples from other sites around the world, suggesting that this new strain is behind the global pandemic,” the researchers said.

According to the journal, Medical Xpress, others in the medical science field have expressed scepticism about the suggestions made by the team, insisting that it is far too soon to assume that any of the various strains of the virus are any more contagious than the original strain in China.

“Some have even suggested that the reason the strain with the G614 mutation has spread so far and wide is because it happened to infect regions that did not begin mitigation efforts in the earliest days of the pandemic.

“In either case, more work is required to ascertain whether any strains are more contagious than any other, and also to determine if the virus mutates at a rate that could outpace vaccine development,” stated the journal.