UK scientists say there is no evidence Covid-19 has mutated into multiple strains

An image taken through an electron microscope of the cells that cause Covid-19, isolated from a US patient
National Institutes of Health/AF
Ellena Cruse6 May 2020

There is no evidence that Covid-19 has mutated into multiple strains, new analysis shows.

Previous research had suggested that there was more than one type of SARS-CoV-2 with one pathogen having more aggressive qualities and causing more serious illness than the others.

However, scientists from the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) have now analysed coronavirus samples and only detected one strain of Covid-19.

Viruses, including the one causing the pandemic, naturally accumulate mutations in their genetic sequence as they spread through populations but scientists said most of these changes will have no effect on the biology of the virus or the aggressiveness of the disease they cause.

Dr Oscar MacLean, from the CVR, said: “By analysing the extensive genetic sequence variation present in the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the evolutionary analysis shows why these claims that multiple types of the virus are currently circulating are unfounded.

“It is important people are not concerned about virus mutations – these are normal and expected as a virus passes through a population.

Coronavirus infecting a cell - In pictures

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“However, these mutations can be useful as they allow us to track transmission history and understand the historic pattern of global spread.”

It was reported earlier this year that scientists had found two or three strains of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the population, evidenced by certain mutations that had been detected.

However extensive analysis by the team found these detected mutations are unlikely to have any functional significance, and, importantly, do not represent different virus types.

The centre’s CoV-GLUE resource tracks SARS-CoV-2’s amino acid replacements, insertions and deletions, which have been observed in samples from the pandemic.

To date the database has catalogued 7,237 mutations in the pandemic.

Scientists said that while this may sound like a lot of change, it is a relatively low rate of evolution for a virus that has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material.

They expect more mutations will come as the pandemic continues.

Most observed mutations would be expected to have no, or minimal, consequence to the virus’s biology, however tracking these changes can help scientists better understand the pandemic and how Covid-19 is spreading in the community.

The study is published in Virus Evolution and the work was funded by the Medical Research Council.

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