<p>
Close on the heels of the fast-spreading Omicron strain of COVID-19 another heavily mutated variant called &#39;IHU&#39; has been detected in France.</p>
<p>
The variant was discovered by academics at the IHU Mediterranee Infection on 10 December.</p>
<p>
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted on the preprint repository MedRxiv on December 29, revealed that IHU has 46 mutations. The variant has been detected in 12 cases so far near Marseille.</p>
<p>
&quot;These data are another example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and of their introduction in a given geographical area from abroad,&quot; the authors said.</p>
<p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O9jm1D4jQu4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>
Philippe Colson, from IHU Mediterranee Infection, Marseille, France, told IANS that &quot;it is too early to speculate on virological, or clinical features of this IHU variant based on these 12 cases.&quot;</p>
<p>
The first patient was a vaccinated adult who had returned to France from a trip to Cameroon, in Central Africa.</p>
<p>
As was in the first patient&#39;s case, respiratory samples collected from seven other positive patients living in the same geographical area exhibited the same combination of mutations that did not correspond to the pattern of the Delta variant, Colson said, as quoted by IANS.</p>
<p>
It is yet to be labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization, which names the COVID variants after Greek letters.</p>
On the 4th death anniversary of human rights activist Karima Baloch, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee…
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit the US from December 24-29 to discuss key…
Students at the Bolan Medical College (BMC) in Balochistan's Quetta entered the 27th day of…
The intensifying cutting of trees for firewood in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB) is not only worsening…
A group of retired judges, bureaucrats, Army officials and other civil society members have penned…
Israel and Slovakia signed a 2 billion shekel (USD 582 million) agreement on Monday to…