- A new variant of Covid-19 called Mu may be able to evade the immunity people get from vaccines, Insider reports.
- According to data from Outbreak.info, Mu variants have been detected in 47 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
- Data show that only Nebraska, Vermont and Southern Nebraska have yet to detect cases.
- For more stories, please visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that a new variant of Covid-19 may have The ability to evade the immunity people get from vaccines According to data from epidemiology and genome databases, previous infections have been found in almost every state in the United States Outbreak.info.
The B.1.621 variant named Mu was first discovered in Colombia in January this year. As of September 4, 47 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have reported cases of this strain. Weekly newspaper It was the first to report.
According to data from Outbreak.info, the only states that have not reported cases are Nebraska, Vermont, and South Dakota.
The strain is currently the most prevalent in Alaska, and data shows that 139 reported cases accounted for 4% of the total number of 3,837 sequenced samples.
The data shows that California has the highest number of original data. Among the 139,930 sequenced, 232 cases of the B.1.621 variant were reported. This accounts for less than one percent of the sample population.
Mu variants account for less than 1% of the total number of Covid-19 cases, of which Delta variant Dominates in the United States.
Earlier this week, Mu was joined to the WHO “Out of interest” List of variants.
President Joe Biden’s chief medical officer, Anthony Fauci, said Thursday that the Mu variant does not pose a “direct threat” to the United States.
Fauci said at the Covid-19 press conference on Thursday: “This variant has a series of mutations, indicating that it will evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but also antibodies induced by vaccines and convalescent serum. “But there isn’t a lot of clinical data to show this. It’s mainly laboratory in vitro data,” he added.
Fauci said health officials are “closely monitoring” the situation.
The WHO stated in its weekly bulletin that further research on the mutant variant is needed to determine whether it can evade the immune defense against Covid-19. Insider’s Cheryl Teh reports.
