The news of the IHU variant of coronavirus, first discovered in France in November, left the world alarmed. A recent study, however, has suggested that the variant is not spreading far enough. 

The IHU variant has 46 mutations and 37 deletions in its genetic code, even higher than omicron. This sub-lineage of the B.1.640.2 variant was reported by researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee Infection and has been linked to travel to African country Cameroon.

The researchers remarked in the study that “it is still early to speculate on the IHU variants as the number of cases is extremely low”, according to Medical News.

The paper, published on MedRxiv, is yet to be peer-reviewed.

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It must be noted that the B.1.640 variant is not new and has been around for at least the past three months. It made headlines recently when the study by researchers from IHU started circulating, reporting the detection of a new variant in November in France. This variant, now, has been classified as sub-lineage B.1.640.2. 

“That virus has had a lot of chances to pick up,” Abdi Mahmud, a COVID-19 incident manager with the WHO, told reporters in Geneva, adding that it was on the health body’s radar since November, according to The New York Times.

Mahmud said that the variant did not appear to have spread widely over the past two months.

The discovery comes at a time when the omicron variant of the coronavirus is driving a surge in new COVID-19 infections around the world. Omicron, since its discovery in November 2021 in South Africa, is quickly establishing itself as the dominant variant across the world.  

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) is monitoring this variant, but it has not been labelled a ‘variant of concern’ so far. 

Experts have said that the discovery of new variants does not necessarily mean that they will be more dangerous than extant variants, and the situation with IHU is being monitored for indications of serious threat.

“Nothing to panic or worry too much (about) at the moment, given the evidence. But clearly something that needs to be watched closely for the coming weeks,” said Vinod Scaria, a scientist at Delhi-based Institute of Genomic and Integrative Biology, said in a tweet. 

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Philippe Colson, from IHU Mediterranee Infection, Marseille, France, told IANS that “it is too early to speculate on virological, epidemiological or clinical features of this IHU variant based on these 12 cases.”

Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding stressed, in a Twitter thread, that though new variants kept emerging, it did not necessarily mean they would be more dangerous.

He said, “What makes a variant more well-known and dangerous is its ability to multiply because of the number of mutations it has in relation to the original virus. This is when it becomes a ‘variant of concern’, like Omicron, which is more contagious and more past immunity evasive. It remains to be seen in which category this new variant will fall.”