California Covid variant ‘may be more infectious and deadly’

A coronavirus variant that has become the dominant strain in California spreads more readily, evades antibodies generated by vaccines and is associated with severe illness and death, according to early research.

A study by the University of California found that the variant “appears to be somewhat more transmissible and heighten patients’ risk of admission to the intensive care unit and death”, Science reports.

Researchers found that 13% of hospitalised patients with the variant were admitted to the ICU, compared with 2.9% of hospitalised patients who did not have the variant. Meanwhile, 11.3% of people infected with the variant died, versus 2% of people without the variant.

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The study also found “the new variant was becoming far more common” and “has a different pattern of mutations than the ones first seen in the United Kingdom and South Africa”, CNN reports. The research is yet to be peer reviewed.

“The devil is already here,” Dr Charles Chiu, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of California who led the study, told the Los Angeles Times. “I wish it were different. But the science is the science.”

However, David O’Connor, a viral sequencing expert at the University of Wisconsin who was not part of the research team, told Science that while the early findings are worrying, he “would want to see more data from more infected people to substantiate this very provocative claim”.

Experts say the cluster of mutations that characterises the strain should mark it as a “variant of concern” on a par with those from the UK, South Africa and Brazil. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US, told the LA Times that a “survival-of-the-fittest contest” between the UK and California strains could accelerate the spread of whichever variant is best at eluding existing vaccines.