Decoding all known Covid-19 mutations circulating right now

It is very important to know all the variants of the deadly Coronavirus. This piece is all about it. Read on.

Alpha variant

The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is the first identified COVID-19 variant, traced in the UK and later became a dominant threat in the US, until March 2021. The variant was said to be a threat as it has been clinically found to be over 50% more contagious than the original Wuhan-identified variant.

Beta variant

The Beta variant of COVID (with mutations B.1.351, B.1.351.2, B.1.351.3) was first traced in the end of 2020 in South Africa, from whereon it continued to spread into parts of Europe and America. While the fast spread and heavy infectiousness of the variant made the WHO term it to be a VoC, it was found to cause a low percentage of infections, in comparison to other variants.

Gamma variant

The Gamma variant, first identified in Japan is said to be the most dominantly spreading variant in Brazil, which became a major COVID hotbed. Holding mutations P.1, P.1.1, P.1.2, this variant, too has been found to have difficult mutations in its spike protein, which could escape neutralizing antibodies.

Delta variant

The Delta variant (B.1.617.2, AY.1, AY.2, AY.3), first identified in India is not just responsible for wreaking havoc and causing extremely high volume of cases during India’s second wave, but it is also a dominant threat in many more countries now. The variant is also strongly contagious, said to be at least 60% more infectious than the original strain and previous concerning variants as well, since it is much more efficient in sticking to ACE2 receptor cells.

Mu variant

The Mu variant is spreading across 40 countries globally and has been deemed to be a variant of interest right now. While the variant is yet to be be flagged as an ‘immediate’ threat, potential outbreaks which were genomically sequenced to be Mu established that the variant (B.1.621 and B.1.621.1), much like the Delta variant is capable of rendering vaccine-generated antibodies ineffective. Preliminary research has also shown that the Mu variant has specific mutations in it, which can allow it to surpass immune defence and cause infection, and the current vaccines may not work as well as they do against other variants.