Despite the US state of California beginning to see a decline
in COVID-19 cases after the holiday season surge went to pass at the beginning
of 2021, the apparent arrival of a new strain has signalled dangers to
physicians, researchers and citizens alike, as they stand a possible turn away
from encountering a more intense, resistant strain of the coronavirus.

New research, as per a report by the Los Angeles Times,
suggests that this new strain, currently dominating California, not only
spreads faster than its predecessors, but also evades antibodies from COVID-19
vaccines or previous infections at a much larger scale.

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With COVID-19 infections having come down at a considerable
rate in the state from close to 45,000/day in mid-January to figures around
6,000/day at the end of February, there might be a chance of the variant causing
further spikes in the state in coming days.

The strain originated from UK is known medically as B.1.1.7.
The California variant, on the other hand – named B.1.427/B.1.429 – is perhaps
as much effective in spreading the viral disease, the report referred to DR Charles
Chiu, infectious disease researcher and physician in UC San Francisco, as
saying.

The phenomenon of state-wide cases rising coincided with growing
evidence of the new strain’s presence in these scenarios.

Specifically pointed out was a mutation to the spike protein
of the virus, known as L452R, which was able to affect lung tissue 40% more
easily as per laboratory results.

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As per the report, the new strain was further able to cut
the effectiveness of the neutralising antibodies from vaccines into half,
whereas the strain currently dominant in South Africa led to the effectiveness
of the same vaccines having been reduced one-sixth.

The report cites Chiu as predicting a further, and considerably
more fearful problem arising out of the scenario.

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Th infectious disease expert reportedly hinted at a time in
near future, where both the UK variant and the California variant’s prevalence in
the state might lead to their mutations being swapped in the system of an
infected person, leading to the origin of an even more dangerous strain of the
SARS-CoV-2 virus.