WASHINGTON: Two important scientific discoveries relating to the coronavirus, coming amid a declining death count from the pandemic, is indicating the worst could be behind us, although experts are warning that taking the foot off-key mitigation measures will result in a spike or a second wave of infections.
In one breakthrough, researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) have reported discovering a mutation to the coronavirus that mirrored a change in the genetically similar SARS virus in 2003, eventually making it less potent and ending its virulent spread five months later. In a separate advance, scientists in Europe said they have discovered an antibody could block infection by the novel coronavirus.
In a paper titled “An 81 nucleotide deletion in SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a identified from sentinel surveillance in Arizona,” published in the Journal of Virology, ASU researchers said out of the 382 nasal swab samples they examined from coronavirus patients in the state, one sample was missing a significant chunk of its genome: 81 of the letters were permanently deleted, in the same way, it occurred in the 2003 SARS outbreak t
