Coronavirus Is Mutating: Scientists Find At Least 2 Strains Of COVID-19; One More Aggressive

While the world is grappling with the deadly coronavirus and scientists are trying to come up with a cure, the news of virus being able to mutate is making headlines.

According to reports, researchers in China have found that coronavirus is mutating, and that at least two different types of the new coronavirus strains could be causing infections worldwide.

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In a recently published study scientists at Peking University¡¯s School of Life Sciences and the Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, found that a more aggressive type of the new coronavirus had accounted for roughly 70% of analyzed strains, while 30% had been linked to a less aggressive type.

The virus has been designated into two categories ¡®L type¡¯ (the more aggressive one) and ¡®S type¡¯ (less aggressive). ¡®Although the L type (¡«70%) is more prevalent than the S type (¡«30%), the S type was found to be the ancestral version. Whereas the L type was more prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, the frequency of the L type decreased after early January 2020¡¯, the study says.

AFP

The researchers said their results indicate the development of new variations of the spike in COVID-19 cases was ¡®likely caused by mutations and natural selection besides recombination¡¯.

However, scientists pointed out that data examined in the study was still ¡®very limited¡¯.

Reuters

¡®These findings strongly support an urgent need for further immediate, comprehensive studies that combine genomic data, epidemiological data, and chart records of the clinical symptoms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),¡¯ the study says.

The findings were published in the National Science Review, the journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.