Double Mutant COVID-19 Strain Discovered in San Francisco
A new Double Mutant variant of Coronavirus detected in San Francisco, United States
A new Double Mutant variant of COVID-19 detected in San Francisco, marking the variant a reason behind the case surge in India, now identified in the United States. Moreover, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the mutation named as a ‘double mutant’ because it carries the variant carries two mutations that help the coronavirus attach to cells.
According to the Chronicle, the case of a double mutant is a patient from a Stanford Health Care clinic and possibly spotted in Santa Clara County. Further, it adds that the county health officials say that they are not observing the new variant because it is not on the CDS’ list of concerns.
A “double mutant” coronavirus variant with features of the so-called California variant plus a mutation found in Brazil and South African variants has been detected in the San Francisco Bay Area.
~San Francisco Chronicle
One of the two mutations in the new variant is similar to that detected on both the COVID-19 variants first detected in South Africa and Brazil. Whereas the second mutation in the strain found in a variant in California. Additionally, the mutation believed as more transmissible than the original variant of coronavirus, but it is not still unclear if it is more resistant to vaccines.
For the First Time, two Mutations Detected in the Same Virus
An infectious disease specialist at the University of California San Francisco, Peter Chin-Hong, told the Chronicle that two mutations of a variant detected in the same virus for the first time. For the first time, Chin-Hong said that they noticed an Indian COVID-19 variant comprised of two mutations in the same virus.
Double Mutant COVID-19 Strain Discovered in San Francisco Source: Web
Preliminary results from the trials conducted with the approved coronavirus vaccines in the United States showed that vaccines still work efficiently against variants. Chin-Hong showed his optimism that the vaccines would work effectively against the double mutant strain.
Dr. Pinsky still encourages people to receive vaccination, despite the ambiguity about the impacts of these new strains. He adds that the vaccines are very effective in preventing severe illness, so the public should continue to receive vaccination shots as early as possible.
