'Double Mutant' COVID Variant Discovered in California's Bay Area, Researchers Confirm

Coronavirus.Photo: Getty

A new and potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus has been found in California’s Bay Area.

While health officials believe there is a link between the variant and the increase in cases — India’s Maharashtra state reported a 55 percent increase this past week — there have been no lab studies of transmissibility, according toThe Mercury News.

It also remains unclear if the variant is more dangerous.

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“There is no definite evidence that this double variant is more virulent or causes more severe disease,” said Dr. Dean Winslow with Stanford University, NBC Bay Area reported.

The three vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are presumed to be effective against the new variant.

“Most people will mount an immune response. Maybe it will not protect against an all-out infection but at least it will protect against moderate or severe disease,” Winslow added.

Dr. Kavita Patel, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., toldCNBCthat the new variant is “incredibly serious.”

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The Indian variant is “something to watch very closely, and something that will not be limited to India,” she said, adding, “It is probably just the tip of the iceberg in what we would worry about in Asia.”

As of Monday morning, there have been more than 30.7 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and at last 554,579 deaths, according to data fromThe New York Times.

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source: people.com