Mu variant

Mu variant

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – This week the World Health Organization named a new ‘variant of interest’ of the coronavirus, called the Mu variant. It was first found in Colombia in January 2021, and has been found in about 39 countries so far.

Concept –

• Some mutations will be detrimental to the virus, but some will be beneficial, allowing it to spread better, escape the protection offered by vaccines or even evade COVID tests.
• If there are changes to the virus that mean it looks like it has the potential to do more harm, then we might designate it a ‘variant of interest’.
• Mu has mutations that might confer some of these properties, but evidence is still emerging.
• The four other variants of interest are Eta, Iota, Kappa and Lambda.
• If there’s good evidence Mu is more serious and beginning to overtake other variants such as Delta, it might be upgraded to a ‘variant of concern’. The four variants of concern are Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.