A health official on Thursday said, a new COVID-19 variant known as “Mu,” which was identified first in Colombia in January, is now the country’s predominant strain and behind its deadliest pandemic wave yet.
The health official Marcela Mercado told a local radio station that this variant was responsible for Colombia’s deadly third infection wave which took place between April and June. About 700 deaths per day taking place during this period, nearly two-thirds of tests from people who died came back positive for the Mu variant, she said.
“It is already in more than 43 countries and has shown high contagiousness,” she added.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization declared Mu, scientific name B.1.621, a “variant of interest.”
it stated that the variant has mutations that show a risk of resistance to vaccines hence, further studies were needed to better understand this.
The agency said, “The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape.”
The emergence of new variants of Covid-19 there is a widespread concern over it as infection rates rise up globally, with the highly transmissible Delta variant taking hold, especially among those who are not vaccinated and in regions where anti-virus measures have been relaxed.
All viruses that cause, including SARS-CoV-2, mutate over time and most changes have little or no effect on the properties of the virus. But certain mutations can alter how easily a virus spreads, the severity of the disease it causes, or its resistance to vaccines and drugs.
Four coronavirus variants of concern are listed, including Alpha, present in 193 countries, and Delta, in 170.
Recently around 100 Covid-19 deaths and 2,000 infections per day, on average has been counted in Colombia.
Less than a third of Colombians have been vaccinated against the virus, which has claimed nearly 125,000 lives in the country to date.
