Mutated virus in US threatens vaccine effectiveness, says study.

Byline: Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON -- A new strain of the novel coronavirus in the United States is a mutated version and appears more contagious than the one that emerged in Wuhan, China, over four months ago, according to a new study released on Wednesday.

'Asian samples were completely dominated by the original Wuhan virus through mid-March, but by mid-March in Asian countries outside of China, the [new and mutated] form was clearly established and expanding,' stated a 33-page report published in BioRxiv, which promotes research in biological sciences.

The researchers warned that if the new coronavirus did not subside in summer like the seasonal flu, it could mutate further and potentially limit the effectiveness of the virus vaccines being developed by scientists around the world.

'There is clearly an urgent need to develop an effective vaccine against the virus, as well as antibody-based therapeutics,' the researchers said. Over 62 vaccine approaches are currently being explored, and a wide variety of vaccines are in development.

The study was conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, funded by the US government to carry out research on national security issues and has an annual budget of about $3 billion.

The United States, which has already lost more than 73,000 people to this virus, is treating the Covid-19 pandemic as a national security crisis. The virus has also infected almost 1.25 million people in the US.

'To date we have identified fourteen mutations,' the researchers said in the report. 'Mutations are...