(HealthDay News) — A new, mutated strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has become dominant and appears to be more contagious than the strain that spread during the early stages of the pandemic, scientists report.
They said the new strain appeared in February in Europe, spread to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain worldwide since mid-March, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new strain spreads faster and may make people susceptible to a second COVID-19 infection, but it does not appear to be more deadly, according to the genetic study posted Thursday on BioRxiv, a website used by researchers use to share their work before it’s reviewed by peers.
The scientists said there was an “urgent need for an early warning” so that vaccines and drugs under development to fight the new coronavirus will be effective against the mutated strain, the Times reported. (…)