by: david carriggdozens of cases of the mu covid-19 variant — recently declared a variant of interest — have been identified in b.c.according to the b.c. centre for disease control’s
latest weekly update on variants of concern and variants of interest, there have been 46 mu cases detected since june, including two in the most recent week.even before the world health organization declared the b.1.621 variant a variant of interest and named it mu on aug. 30, the b.c. centre had been keeping an eye on it through its whole genome sequencing system. in b.c., every positive covid-19 test result is further analyzed to see whether it is a variant of concern, a variant of interest or an emerging variant.the highly contagious delta variant of concern that has taken over the world now accounts for close to 100 per cent of all cases in b.c. other variants of — gamma, beta, alpha and other — are now mostly non existent in the province.while the mu variant is in b.c. in relatively very low numbers, it’s worth keeping an eye on. here are some things to know:
where did it come from?
mu was identified in colombia on jan. 11, 2021, and has now been found in 31 countries.it is the most recently recognized variant of interest, joining eta (b.1.525), iota (b.1.526), kappa (b.1.617.1) and lambda (c.37).colombia experienced a huge covid-19 surge from march to august 2021 that peaked at 33,594 cases a day on june 26, 2021.although the gamma voc was dominant in colombia during the initial phase, the mu voi outcompeted all other variants, including the gamma voc in may 2021, and has driven the epidemic in colombia since then.