The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it was monitoring the new IHU coronavirus variant that was first reported in France, saying it was "not a threat" despite early evidence suggesting it could be more transmissible than the Omicron variant.
It was more than a month ago when the IHU variant was first reported in France, and since then, it has failed to spread beyond a small initial cluster of cases. The situation is the reason that the WHO has not labeled the new strain as one of its "variants of concern."
IHU Variant
Researchers who looked into the new variant named it "IHU" after the university hospital where it was first identified, the IHU Méditerranée Infection. The hospital, which is located in Marseille, southeast of France, is led by the controversial scientist Dr. Didier Raoult, who made hydroxychloroquine a household name.
Many social media users quickly made memes about the name of the new coronavirus variant, with some saying it means "I hate you." But the new strain, registered as B.1.640.2, made headlines worldwide as nations closely monitor new variants of the coronavirus infection, CBS News reported.
A December study conducted by researchers which has not yet been peer-reviewed confirmed that 12 patients in the area tested positive for the new variant. The IHU strain is known to have mutations that have also appeared in other fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus.
Despite being detected at around the same time as the Omicron variant, the IHU variant has not been successful in spreading outside the Southern Alps region of France. IHU researchers previously reported that the first patient identified with the new coronavirus strain was vaccinated and had just returned from Cameroon.
The incident manager for the WHO's COVID-19 Incident Management Support Team, Abdi Mahamud, said that the IHU variant has had a lot of chances to pick up. The remarks were made during a news briefing on Tuesday held in Geneva, the South China Morning Post reported.
Omicron Variant
Researchers who first identified the new IHU variant said that it had 46 mutations, which is more than the now spreading Omicron variant, and makes it much more resistant against vaccines and is more transmissible. One of the mutations includes the N501Y, which was first seen in the Alpha variant, which experts believe is what makes it more contagious.
Scientists said that the IHU variant also had the E484K mutation which is the reason why the IHU variant is able to infect a person despite being vaccinated. The situation comes as the Omicron variant is still the one dominating infections in recent weeks.
France is among the countries that are struggling to contain the Omicron variant, joining other European countries like the United Kingdom and Portugal. The nations have observed a spike in confirmed cases over the past few days.
France's public health agency said that roughly 62.4$ of tests in the region showed a profile compatible with the Omicron variant. The strain has since caused a surge of confirmed cases to more than 160,000 per day in the last week, peaking above 200,000, Firstpost reported.
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