Coronavirus Has Already Mutated

The coronavirus is mutating rapidly and the pathogen has already developed into three main branches as of March 4, 2020, according to a UK-German study.

SOURCES: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Cambridge



Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Germany have used RNA analysis to identify three types of COVID-19 that evolved during the early stages of the pandemic. This study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Citing the team, the University of Cambridge writes in a news release that COVID-19 type A is the “original human virus genome” from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Mutated versions of type A were discovered in U.S. nationals who reportedly lived in Wuhan. Large numbers of type A virus were also seen in patients living in the U.S. and Australia.

Strangely, the dominant variant in Wuhan was type B, which was prevalent across East Asia, but did not spread much beyond the region. This means either a complex founding event happened in Wuhan, or some factors had resisted type B outside East Asia.”

Type C is the main COVID-19 variant in Europe. The presence of type C was detected in early cases from France, Italy, Sweden and England, yet this variant was absent in samples from patients in Mainland China.

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