New Variant of COVID, IHU, Discovered in France

The World Health Organization  is monitoring a variant of the coronavirus  detected in a small number of patients in France, but says there is currently no reason to worry about its spread. The variant B.1.640.2  was first identified in October and uploaded to the disease variant database Gisaid on November 4. According to experts, only about 20 samples have been sequenced so far, and this week there is only one since early December. WHO Covid Incident Manager Abdi Mahmud told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the variant has been on the authorities' radar since November, but it doesn't seem to be widespread in the last two months. Concerns about the French mutant became apparent after researchers discovered that they contained 46 mutations which differed from the original version of the coronavirus. Omicron also has a  number of mutations that researchers believe are much more contagious.

Variant B.1.640.2 was first detected in a vaccinated person who recently traveled from Cameroon in southeastern France, according to a research paper published on a preprint server. Researchers have found a total of 12 cases in the area and named them "I.H.U." after the  Marseille laboratory. Many variants of the coronavirus  have emerged in the last two years, and the reasons why some are widespread and why they are not are still unknown. Currently, there is little reason to worry about I.H.U, according to some independent researchers and W.H.O officials.