Scientists fear that a new variant of COVID-19 in Finland – different from strains in the UK and South Africa – may be fueling the spread of the disease because it does not appear in the tests, according to reports.
Helsinki’s Vita labs, which made the discovery, said the variant is unlikely to have arisen in Finland, given the Scandinavian country’s low infection rate, the Evening Standard reported.
“Vita Laboratoriot Oy and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki detected a previously unknown variant of the coronavirus in a sample from southern Finland,” said the laboratory about the variant, dubbed “Fin-796H”.
“Mutations in this variant make detection difficult in at least one of the CRP tests recommended by WHO. This discovery could have a significant impact on determining the spread of the disease, ”he added.
Ilkka Julkunen, professor of virology at the University of Turku, told local media Yle that the emergence of the variant was not yet a major concern.
“I would not be too concerned yet because we have no clear information that this new strain would be more easily transmitted or that it would affect the immune protection provided by having already had the virus or having received a vaccination,” he said according to Norma.
Referring to strains from South Africa and the United Kingdom, the laboratory said that “the heritage of the Fin-796H has the same characteristics as the variants previously spread throughout the world, but does not appear to belong to the lineage of any of the previously known variants”, Sun reported.
It is not clear how vaccines will be effective against the new variant.
Finland has recorded 51,595 cases and 723 deaths since the pandemic began.