Breaking News: WHO is monitoring new COVID variant named “mu”

WHO is monitoring a new COVID variant called “mu,” before you panic, learn everything you need to know about it here.

According to the World’s Health organization, the coronavirus variant has mutations with the potentials to evade the immunity provided by a previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination.

What is the new COVID variant?

Scientists call this new variant B.1.621 but have chosen the name MU for the public. WHO added the mu variant to its list of variants “of interest” on 30 August 2021.

According to WHO, the new COVID variant contains genetic mutations that indicate natural immunity. They think that the currently available vaccines or monoclonal antibody treatments may not work as well against it as they do against the original ancestral virus.

More studies are needed on the mu variant before deciding if it will prove more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

Read More: FDA grants full approval to Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, BioNTech.

In Tuesday’s report, the international health organization wrote: “Mu has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape. Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.”

When was the mu variant first detected?

The mu SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in Colombia in January 2021 as a variant of interest. Variants of interest are entirely different from variants of concern.

Variants of interest have been found to have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics, including transmissibility, disease severity and immune escape. Meanwhile, variants of concern have been found to cause a decrease in the effectiveness of public health measures, vaccines or therapeutics.

However, the international health organization stated in its weekly bulletin that it would be closely monitoring the variant’s spread. For now, you can stay up to date with news on the mu variant here as we get details from the WHO website.

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