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Updated January 5th, 2022 at 15:56 IST

WHO reveals new COVID-19 variant IHU found in France hasn’t become much of threat so far

WHO on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 variant found in France - IHU - hasn’t become much of a threat since it was first identified in November.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
WHO
IMAGE: TWITTER/UNSPLASH | Image:self
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 variant found in France hasn’t become much of a threat since it was first identified in November. The new strain has been dubbed as B.1.640.2. or IHU. Scientists in France have said that the new variant has around 46 mutations and 37 deletions, making it more infectious than the highly transmissible Omicron strain. 

But on Tuesday, while speaking at a press briefing, Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on COVID-19, said that the variant "has been on our radar," adding that "That virus had a lot of chances to pick up."

According to a research paper published on medRxiv, the new variant is more transmittable and vaccine-resistant than the existing Omicron variant. At least 12 cases of the new variant have been reported near Marseilles, with reports indicating that majority of the victims were hospitalised. The ICU has been much higher in demand in southern France owing to the new variant.

WHO yet to investigate the new variant 

"In the Marseilles geographical area, we have numerous cases of this novel variant. We have named it as IHU variant. Two new genomes had already been submitted," Professor Philippe Colson, the leader of the department that discovered the new variant stated in the research paper. He also stated that the first person to be infected with the IHU variant was fully vaccinated and had a travel history to Cameroon in central Africa in November. He got moderate respiratory symptoms three days after returning.

Meanwhile, according to Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, the emergence of the new variants does not necessarily mean they will be more deadly. "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 said as per PTI. "This is when it becomes a "variant of concern" - like Omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall," he further added. It should be mentioned here that the IHU variant has not been investigated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yet. 

(Image: UNSPLASH/Twitter)

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Published January 5th, 2022 at 15:53 IST

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