A new coronavirus strain that shares some features with the South African variant appears in New York, the researchers said on Wednesday.
Since mid-February, the new variant, called B.1.526, has been present in about 12 percent of coronavirus samples collected in the large apple and surrounding areas, according to researchers at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University Vagelos.
In analyzing publicly available databases, Columbia researchers did not find a high prevalence of COVID-19 variants in South Africa or Brazil in the region.
“Instead, we found a large number of these home-grown offspring,” said Dr. Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, an assistant professor in the infectious diseases division at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, in a statement.
The Columbia study found that the new strain shares some similarities to the South African strain, which scientists believe can spread more easily than other variants of the virus.
B.1.526 was also described in research published this week by the California Institute of Technology.
No studies have been reviewed by external experts.
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