Researchers have found three distinct strains of COVID-19, with two of them popping up in Australia including one closest to the “root of the outbreak”. coronavirus
Different strains of the virus have been found in different parts of the world, researchers found. Picture: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan.The C strain is most prevalent in Italy, where an Italian Red Cross worker watches a flash mob. Picture: Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP.Variant A is the “original human virus genome” and is closest to the “root of the outbreak”, researchers believe. It was found in Wuhan and is most similar to the type of virus found in bats.
Surprisingly however, researchers found the A variant was not Wuhan’s dominant virus type. Instead, mutated versions of A were found in Americans that lived in Wuhan and A-type viruses were also found in patients in Australia and the US. However it has not been found much beyond East Asia, suggesting a “founder event” in Wuhan or some form of resistance to the strain outside of Asia.
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