New Coronavirus Strain Found in Finland, May Be Difficult to Detect, Study Says

Helsinki, February 18: A laboratory in Finland has discovered a new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19). Dubbed Fin-796H, the new strain of coronavirus was identified in southern Finland. According to an official statement, a joint study by Vita laboratories and the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki has found that this new strain cannot be detected by all PCR tests approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus Strain That Can 'Fool' Antibodies Found in 3 Patients From Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

"Vita Laboratoriot Oy and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki have detected a previously unknown variant of the coronavirus in a sample from southern Finland. Mutations in this variant make it difficult to detect in at least one of the WHO-recommended PCR tests. This discovery could have a significant impact on determining the spread of the disease," the laboratory said. New Coronavirus Strain: India First in World to Successfully Culture and Isolate 'UK Variant' of COVID-19-Causing SARS-CoV-2 Virus.

According to the study, Fin-796H is quite different from all of the previously found strains in South Africa and the United Kingdom. "Its inheritance has the same features as the previously widespread variants in the world, but it does not appear to belong to the lineage of any of the previously known variants," the statement reads.

The researchers remain clueless about where this mutation developed and believe that this might have happened outside Finland because the country has significantly lower number of COVID-19 cases. It also remain unclear how effective vaccines will be against the new strain of coronavirus.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2021 03:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).