Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that US public health officials are “keeping a very close eye” on a new variant of Covid-19 first discovered in Colombia.
Known as B.1.621 or the “Mu variant” according to the nomenclature of the World Health Organization, it has “a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape”, so a WHO report released on monday. “Preliminary data submitted to the Virus Evolution working group show a reduction in the neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera, similar to that of the beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.”
Today the Los Angeles County Department of Health announced that the mu variant has been identified for the first time in the area. The numbers are still small; Only 167 mu variants have been identified in LA County to date. “These specimens were sequenced between June 19 and August 21, with the majority of the mu specimens sequenced in July,” said a statement from the county health authorities.
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The day before, these cases were not mentioned by Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, who briefed reporters on LA County’s Covid response. Mu, which is classified as an “interesting variant” by the WHO, has only shown “worrying variants” on the graph that Ferrer presented on Thursday. Even if it had been so, it would hardly have registered next to Delta, which makes up 99% of all identified variants.
Speaking of Mu Fauci said, “This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggest it would evade certain antibodies, not just monoclonal antibodies, but vaccines and convalescent serum-induced antibodies … But there isn’t a lot of clinical data on it suggest that. Mostly it is in-vitro laboratory data. “
Mu was first discovered in Colombia in January this year. It has since been reported in 39 countries. Corresponding Washington Post identified 2,000 mu cases in the United States, including California, Florida, Texas, and New York. The California Department of Health told the Post on Thursday that 348 mu cases had been identified so far.
Another new variant that is not on the LA list and that has not been seen in the county – or even the country – is C.1.2. The variant first identified in South Africa in July. Corresponding the LA Times C.1.2 “came from Africa to Asia, Oceania and Europe. Scientists have discovered it in Botswana, Mauritius, China, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK. ”It has worrying mutations, but because the strain is so new it is not yet known whether it is actually a greater threat than others Variants.
LA officials today confirmed 2,673 new cases and 37 new deaths from Covid. On Thursday, the average 7-day case rate per 100,000 declined 4% from 26.2 last week. Ferrer said Thursday that “hospital stays may plateau or even decline slightly”. Today 1,641 Covid patients were hospitalized and an increasing number – 27% – were in intensive care. The test positive rate was 3.3%.
Public Health continues to monitor COVID-19 variants. 37 new deaths and 2,673 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County. view https://t.co/emrao2x3Hc pic.twitter.com/4F4VRmvvgd
— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) 3. September 2021
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