On January 5, local time, according to a number of French media reports, on December 9 last year, the French Marseille Mediterranean Institute of Infectious Diseases Medical and Teaching Institute said that a new variant of the new coronavirus was found, the strain number is B.1.640.2, also known as the IHU strain.
The strain was first identified in a patient returning to France from the Congo. According to previous reports, the Mediterranean Institute of Infectious Diseases Medical and Teaching Research in Marseille has found a total of 12 cases of infection with the strain. Due to the small size of the sample, it is currently difficult to assess its infectivity and risk. The World Health Organization has listed the strain as a NEW CORONAVIRUS variant under observation.
In response to the newly emerged new coronavirus variant strain IHU, Academician Zhong Nanshan said in an interview with the general station reporter on the 6th that there is no need to over-interpret the mutated strain IHU.
Zhong Nanshan said that IHU has more mutation sites than Omicron, and theoretically the immune escape ability of vaccines and resistance to some antibodies may be stronger. For the new mutant strains, many are unknown and now require closer observation. One is to observe whether its spread will become mainstream, and the other is to observe its pathogenicity.
Comprehensive: CCTV News
Producer/Ren Yongwei
Editor-in-Chief/Bei Zhang
Editor on duty/Zhang Xinyun
![Globally, on average, one new mutant strain is found every 2 months, most of which is concentrated in winter[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)