UK and California Covid variants ‘have merged into mutated virus’

Scientists have warned it is evidence the pandemic may be entering a new phase
9244069 Vaccine vs variant: Promising data in Israel's race to defeat pandemic
REUTERS

Two Covid-19 variants have reportedly merged into a mutated hybrid version of the virus, sparking warnings that the pandemic could be entering a new phase.

The hybrid virus was discovered in a sample at a US laboratory, and is the result of the “recombination” of a UK and California strain, scientists said.

It is not yet known how much of a threat the recombination could pose, but if confirmed it would be the first detected in the pandemic.

The “recombination” was discovered in California's Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Scientist reported.

Bette Korber, a computational biologist at the laboratory which made the discovery, said there was "pretty clear" evidence of the hybrid.

Ms Korber said: "This kind of event could allow the virus to have coupled a more infectious virus with a more resistant virus."

The recombinant carries a mutation from the Kent variant - known as B.1.1.7 - which makes the UK virus more transmissible.

It also carries another mutation from the California variant - known as B.1.429 - which can produce resistance to antibodies.

Recombination can bring together different mutations and lead to new, more dangerous variants.

The emergence of new Covid-19 variants recently has meant that people could be infected with two different strains at one time.

The Kent Covid variant, which emerged only a few months ago, has swiftly become the most dominant in parts of Britain.

It could be up to 70 per cent more infectious than than the original strain, some scientists have warned..

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in