The most aggressive strains of Sars-CoV-2 could generate 270 times as much viral load as the least potent type New York may have a deadlier strain imported from Europe, compared to less deadly viruses elsewhere in the United States

Updated: 1:33am, 21 Apr, 2020

Photo: EPA-EFE A team led by Professor Li Lanjuan has studied how the novel coronavirus mutates and possible implications for the pandemic.

A new study by one of China’s top scientists has found the ability of the new coronavirus to mutate has been vastly underestimated and different strains may account for different impacts of the disease in various parts of the world.

Professor Li Lanjuan and her colleagues from Zhejiang University found within a small pool of patients many mutations not previously reported. These mutations included changes so rare that scientists had never considered they might occur. They also confirmed for the first time with laboratory evidence that certain mutations could create strains deadlier than others.

“Sars-CoV-2 has acquired mutations capable of substantially changing its pathogenicity,” Li and her collaborators wrote in a non-peer reviewed paper released on preprint service medRxiv.org on Sunday.

Li’s study provided the first hard evidence that mutation could affect how severely the virus caused disease or damage in its host.

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