Mu COVID varriant discovered in Jamaica

Jamaica: The Health Minister of Jamaica – Dr Christopher Tufton, gave the confirmation of the presence of MU variant in the island country. The Minister noted that of 90 samples taken, 26 tested positive for the variant.

The Minister provided the information during a press briefing. The Chief Medical Officer – Dr Jaquiline Bisasor McKenzie, stated that the samples were sent to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control on August 21 for testing, and the results of the tests were received on September 9 2021.

Another 55 of the samples were tested positive for the Delta variant. With this revelation, Jamaica has now confirmed two injurious strains of COVID just in two months.

About MU variant –
This variant was reported in January in the Mu variant, a version of the coronavirus that was first identified in Colombia. The Mu variant, also known as B.1.621, was added to the WHO’s watchlist on August 30, 2021 after it was detected in 39 nations and found to possess a cluster of mutations that may make it less sensitive to the immune protection many have acquired.

As of July 2021, there are 4 dominant variants of SARS-CoV-2 spreading among global communities that is – the Alpha Variant (earlier called as the UK Variant and officially referred to as B.1.1.7), first reported in London and Kent, the Beta Variant (earlier called the South Africa Variant & officially referred to as – B.1.351), the Gamma Variant (earlier called the Brazil Variant & officially known to as P.1), and the last comes is the Delta Variant (earlier called the India Variant and officially referred to as B.1.617.2).

According to World Health Organisation ,this new Mu variant of the COVID-19 shows signs of possible resistance to vaccines.

According to the statistics, Jamaica has reported 511 new coronavirus infections taking the total number of the confirmed cases to 74,007 while a total of 1,685 individuals died due to the deadly mutant.