New coronavirus outbreak in China raises concerns about mutations

[Jacob Siegal]

• Novel coronavirus cases in northeast China are presenting themselves differently than the earliest cases in Wuhan, sparking concerns about mutations.
• The new coronavirus cases are infected for a longer period of time, take longer to test negative, and are infected for longer before they start to show symptoms.
• University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health director says this isn't enough to prove that the virus is mutating, and that there could be other explanations.
• Visit BGR's homepage for more stories.

If there has been a silver lining amidst all of the tragedy and chaos of the past few months, it is the fact that scientists and researchers were finding evidence that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was relatively stable, which was good news for the prospects of an effective vaccine. In March, molecular geneticist Peter Thielen told The Washington Post that there were only about 4 to 10 genetic differences between the strains in the US and those in Wuhan, which is "a relatively small number of mutations for having passed through a large number of people."

That was the best news we could have hoped for, all things considered, but according to Bloomberg, Chinese doctors are seeing notable differences in the way that the virus is manifesting itself in a new cluster of cases in the northeast region of China when compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan last year.

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New coronavirus outbreak in China raises concerns about mutations originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 20 May 2020 at 09:02:48 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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