There is currently no scientific evidence of an increased risk of coronavirus as a result of its mutations. Thus, on Wednesday, July 29, the director of the Scientific and Clinical Center for Precision and Regenerative Medicine of the Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Albert Rizvanov, commented on the information that a more infectious type of coronavirus was registered in Vietnam a few days ago.
“Now there is no data that would be scientifically confirmed that the coronavirus is becoming more dangerous or infectious for humans. Often, even in one patient, you can find many slightly different genetic variants of the virus, these are the so-called quasispecies. But this does not mean that each mutation will necessarily lead to the fact that the virus will become more infectious or deadly, ”TASS quoted him as saying.
Rizvanov noted that mutations of viruses most often lead not to an increase in their resistance, but, on the contrary, to a weakening. Such a system for the development of viruses is inherent in nature. Rizvanov explained that it is unprofitable for the intracellular parasite to quickly kill the host organism, because this way it will have less opportunity for further spread.
On July 27, it was reported that a more contagious type of coronavirus was registered in Vietnam. It was noted that scientists analyzed the genome and concluded that the type of coronavirus found in the city of Da Nang is more infectious than previously known to science.
Information on the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, first appeared at the end of December last year. The Chinese city of Wuhan became the hotbed of infection. For several months, the disease has spread to more than 210 countries of the world. On March 11, the World Health Organization announced the coronavirus pandemic.