Reports: New Coronavirus Variant Spreading In New York City Raises Concern

Plus: Lawyers Still Haven’t Found Parents Of 506 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border

TOPLINE

Researchers have discovered a new variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in New York City that carries worrying mutations that may render existing Covid-19 vaccines less effective, raising concerns that the more infectious variant may overtake other strains in the city and cause another surge in cases.

TOPLINE

The variant, called B.1.526, has been detected by two separate teams of researchers across various boroughs and neighbourhoods in the city, both the New York Times and CNN reported.

The two separate studies—one led by researchers at Caltech and the other by researchers at Columbia University— have not yet been peer-reviewed but their similar findings have raised alarm among experts.

The researchers from Columbia told CNN that they have observed a steady climb in the detection rate of the variant from late December to mid-February and it has now risen to 12.7% of all positive samples in the past two weeks.

Both teams of researchers studying the B.1.526 variant have detected the worrying E484K mutation first seen in South Africa and Brazil which may allow it to slip past the body’s immune response and blunt the effectiveness of vaccines.

Columbia’s Dr. David Ho, who led one of the research teams, told CNN he was concerned about the new variant overtaking existing strains just like what happened in the U.K. and South Africa.

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