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How a worrisome coronavirus variant spread unnoticed

A new variant stealthily took hold on two continents, highlighting the need for global genomic surveillance.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty

    1. Smriti Mallapaty is a senior reporter in Sydney, Australia.

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Passengers wearing face masks at the main departure hall in the terminal of Athens International Airport

A SARS-CoV-2 variant spreading across Europe probably caught a ride to the region with travellers arriving from central Africa. Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty

Multiple travellers carried a new coronavirus variant from central Africa to Europe, where it has now spread to at least a dozen countries, according to genomic data1. The variant, named B.1.620, hosts a suite of mutations that have been linked to increased transmissibility and the ability to escape the immune response.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01285-4

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 14 May 2021: An earlier version of this story cited the wrong paper in reference 1.

References

  1. Dudas, G. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.04.21256637 (2021).

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