<p>
Close on the heels of the fast-spreading Omicron strain of COVID-19 another heavily mutated variant called &#39;IHU&#39; has been detected in France.</p>
<p>
The variant was discovered by academics at the IHU Mediterranee Infection on 10 December.</p>
<p>
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted on the preprint repository MedRxiv on December 29, revealed that IHU has 46 mutations. The variant has been detected in 12 cases so far near Marseille.</p>
<p>
&quot;These data are another example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and of their introduction in a given geographical area from abroad,&quot; the authors said.</p>
<p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O9jm1D4jQu4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>
Philippe Colson, from IHU Mediterranee Infection, Marseille, France, told IANS that &quot;it is too early to speculate on virological, or clinical features of this IHU variant based on these 12 cases.&quot;</p>
<p>
The first patient was a vaccinated adult who had returned to France from a trip to Cameroon, in Central Africa.</p>
<p>
As was in the first patient&#39;s case, respiratory samples collected from seven other positive patients living in the same geographical area exhibited the same combination of mutations that did not correspond to the pattern of the Delta variant, Colson said, as quoted by IANS.</p>
<p>
It is yet to be labelled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organization, which names the COVID variants after Greek letters.</p>
A group of 223 Hindu pilgrims from the Sindh province of Pakistan embarked on a…
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of India…
As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues with Kremlin troops being relentless in their…
Taiwan's Ministry of Defence (MND) said it detected seven Chinese military aircraft and five naval…
Security personnel on Sunday morning launched a massive manhunt following a terrorist attack on an…
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India has "very strongly countered" China…