Scientists in the United States and UK have actually determined hundreds of mutations to the infection which causes the disease Covid-19
But none has yet developed what this will imply for virus spread in the population and for how efficient a vaccine may be.
Viruses alter – it’s what they do.
The concern is: which of these anomalies in fact do anything to change the severity or infectiousness of the illness?
Preliminary research from the United States has recommended one specific mutation – D614 G – is ending up being dominant and could make the illness more transmittable.
It hasn’t yet been examined by other researchers and officially published.
The researchers, from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, have been tracking modifications to the “spike” of the infection that gives it its unique shape, using a database called the Worldwide Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
They noted there appears to be something about this