A new covid-19 virus variant is found. World Health Organization named a new ‘variant of interest’ Mu variant. It was first found in Colombia in January 2021, and has been found in about 39 countries so far.
What is Mu Variant?
- Mu is more serious and it will overtake other variants such as Delta, it might be upgraded to a ‘variant of concern’. The four variants of concern are Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.
- Mu has changes, called mutations, which mean it might be able to evade some of the protection we get from COVID vaccines.
- As of now this mutation is not dominant, despite being present since January 2021, it doesn’t seem to be outcompeting Delta.
- WHO says it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as "Mu", first identified in Colombia in January.
- Viruses are generally categorised under two sections-'variant of concern' and 'variant of interest.' The Mu variant has been termed as the variant of interest, which means it looks like it has the potential to do more harm. Mu has the potential to cause greater harm, but there is still less evidence to confirm this.
Can Mu Variant escape vaccine?
- WHO suggests that Mu Variant could partially evade antibodies developed from vaccines. It means if this virus starts dominating, it will be harmful for vaccinated people too. But so far there is not much evidence on this.
- If a variant has significant changes in the spike protein, this may decrease the effectiveness of our vaccines.
- The good thing is our vaccines currently protect well against symptomatic infection and severe disease from all variants of the virus so far. So don't forget to get your vaccine.
- A new variant will arrive from time to time. Vaccines might not protect you from them. As of now it is hard to tell which variant would be more contagious or would be immune to the vaccine. For the same reasons, booster shots are being introduced.
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