Even as the world is grappling to contain the COVID-19 epidemic spreading like a wildfire across the world with more than 3,000 deaths and over 90,000 cases across 76 countries, senior scientists at Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), have said the virus dubbed SARS-CoV-2 is mutating.
A top scientist at CSIRO, Professor S.S. Vasan, who leads the CSIRO Dangerous Pathogens and the virus preclinical research has said: “We have analysed the 115 published genome sequences from the current COVID-19 outbreak to understand how changes in the virus affect its behaviour and impact.”
“Some of these ‘errors’ in the virus known as ‘mutations’ may be significant for the development and evaluation of new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, so it is very important for us to understand it. We are also investigating the physical and molecular characterisation of this virus to find differences and similarities with other known coronaviruses,” he said.
The Hindu Group’s Business Line revealed on February 3 that the global Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations