WHO Monitoring New Coronavirus Variant Called 'Mu', B.1.621, In 39 Countries: The Guardian, CNBC

- World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021.
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- The Guardian, Sept. 1, 2021.

The World Health Organization has added another version of coronavirus to its list of “variants of interest” amid concerns that it may partially evade the immunity people have developed from past infection or vaccination. The Mu variant, also known as B.1.621, was added to the WHO’s watchlist on 30 August after it was detected in 39 countries and found to possess a cluster of mutations that may make it less susceptible to the immune protection many have acquired.

According to the WHO’s weekly bulletin on the pandemic, the Mu variant “has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape”. Preliminary data suggests it may evade immune defences in a similar way to the Beta variant first discovered in South Africa, the report adds, but this needs to be confirmed by further work. The Mu variant was first identified in Colombia in January 2021. Since then, sporadic cases and some larger outbreaks have been recorded around the world.

Beyond South America, cases have been reported in the UK, Europe, the US and Hong Kong. While the variant makes up less than 0.1% of Covid infections globally, it may be gaining ground in Colombia and Ecuador where it accounts for 39% and 13% of Covid cases respectively. Scientists and public health officials are particularly eager to know whether the Mu variant is more transmissible, or causes more serious disease, than the Delta variant that is dominant in much of the world.

“The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes,” the WHO bulletin states. At least 32 cases of the Mu variant have been detected in the UK, where the pattern of infections suggests it was brought in by travellers on multiple occasions. A report by Public Health England (PHE) in July said most were found in London and in people in their 20s. Some of those testing positive for Mu had received one or two doses of Covid vaccine...

- Read More,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/01/who-monitoring-new-coronavirus-variant-named-mu
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- CNBC, 'WHO Says It's Monitoring A New Covid Variant Called Mu,' Sept. 1, 2021,
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/01/who-says-it-is-monitoring-a-new-covid-variant-called-mu.html

* KEY POINTS:
- The World Health Organization is monitoring a new coronavirus variant called “mu.”
- It has mutations that have the potential to evade immunity provided by a previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination, the WHO said.
- The new variant was first identified in Colombia but has since been confirmed in at least 39 countries, according to the agency.