First case of India's 'double mutant' COVID-19 variant found in San Francisco Bay Area

Source: The Hill | April 5, 2021 | Joseph Choi

A new “double mutant” coronavirus strain believed to be behind a surge of cases in India has been discovered in San Francisco, marking what is thought to be the first time the variant has been detected in the U.S.

The strain is referred to as a “double mutant” because it carries two mutations that help the virus latch onto cells, the San Francisco Chronicle notes.

The variant, like strains from the United Kingdom and Brazil, is believed to be more transmissible than the pre-existing form of the virus. It is currently unknown whether the “double mutant” strain is more resistant to vaccines available in the U.S.

“This Indian variant contains two mutations in the same virus for the first time, previously seen on separate variants,” Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California San Francisco, told the Chronicle.

“Since we know that the domain affected is the part that the virus uses to enter the body, and that the California variant is already potentially more resistant to some vaccine antibodies, it seems to reason that there is a chance that the Indian variant may do that too,” Chin-Hong added.

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