It has been more than two years that we all have been suffering from the drastic impact of COVID-19. The pandemic has a negative impact on everything, starting from our lifestyle to the countries’ economic growth. Worldwide every country, every corner of the world has suffered highly and still struggling to do so, like 5 to 6 months after we get news that a new variant of COVID-19 has been discovered. This pandemic started in 2019, we have overcome the first wave, second wave, third wave, Omicron, and now it’s 2022, yet another variant of COVID-19 has been discovered, which is ‘IHU.’
Detailed Description of the New Variant
A very recent Omicron virus has been found, which has a pretty high transmission rate. And before we recover from this Omicron completely, in France, experts and scientists have identified the ‘IHU’ virus, the latest variant of COVID-19. And it also has been observed that this new variant of COVID-19 has more mutation power than Omicron. Where still now Omicron dominates most parts of the world, in Marseilles, 12 new cases have been found of the ‘IHU’ virus. It has been determined that these cases are associated with the African country Cameroon.
The academics of IHU Mediterranee Infection first identified the IHU variant [or also known as B.1.640.2], and it comprises 46 mutations, a lot higher compared to Omicron. After two years of struggle, scientists and researchers invented vaccination to protect from getting infected by COVID-19. However, it is still not confirmed that invented vaccines will be effective for new variants. In addition, it has been reported that the new variation IHU carries E484K mutation, which makes it more resilient to vaccines. And not only this, but the N501Y mutation is also present in the new variant, which is the main reason IHU has a high rate of transmission.
The Impacts
Eric Feigl-Ding, one of the well-known Epidemiologists, posted on Twitter that “There are scores of new variants discovered all the time, but it does not necessarily mean they will be more dangerous. What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus.” He also stated, “The mutations have caused “Fourteen amino acid substitutions, and nine amino acid deletions—which are located in the spike protein.”
Considering all the news, reports, and important information regarding this new IHU variant of COVID-19, one thing now can be said is that apart from France, other countries are still safe. The cases of new variants still only have been identified in France as well as World Health Organization (WHO) is still not declared the new variant as ‘variant under investigation. So rather than panicking, we all should maintain all the safety protocols more effectively.
Also Read: Omicron Variant Of Covid-19 – What We Know So Far
