Two variants of Covid-19 have allegedly merged into a mutated hybrid version of the virus, warning that the pandemic may be entering a new phase.
The hybrid virus was discovered in a sample in a U.S. laboratory and is the result of “recombination” of a strain in the United Kingdom and California, the scientists said.
It is not yet known how much threat the recombination may represent, but if confirmed, it would be the first detected in the pandemic.
The “recombination” was discovered at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in California, New Scientist reported.
Bette Korber, a computational biologist at the laboratory that made the discovery, said there was “fairly clear” evidence for the hybrid.
Ms. Korber said: “This type of event may allow the virus to have coupled a more infectious virus with a more resistant virus.”
The recombinant carries a mutation of the Kent variant – known as B.1.1.7 – that makes the UK virus more transmissible.
It also carries another mutation of the California variant – known as B.1.429 – that can produce resistance to antibodies.
Recombination can bring together different mutations and lead to new and more dangerous variants.
The emergence of new variants of Covid-19 recently means that people can be infected with two different strains at the same time.
The Kent Covid variant, which emerged just a few months ago, quickly became the most dominant in parts of Britain.
It may be up to 70 percent more infectious than the original strain, some scientists have warned.