New Double Mutant Coronavirus Variant from India Found in California for First Time

Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by Tom Tapp on April 5, 2021.

Just as California seemed to be on the verge of truly turning the Covid-19 corner, the Stanford Clinical Virology Lab confirmed a case of an emerging variant that originated in India, Deadline has learned.

According to Lisa Kim, Senior Manager of Media Relations for Stanford Health Care, “The Clinical Virology Lab at Stanford Health Care identified and confirmed the newly described ‘India’ variant last week. This variant has the L452R mutation found in the CA variant, as well as another significant spike mutation, E484Q. This same position is mutated to a different amino acid (K) in both the South Africa and Brazil (P.1 and P.2) variants.”

In more conversational terms, that means one of India variant’s mutations is like a key alteration first discovered in the so-called Brazil and South Africa variants. The other mutation is also found in a variant first detected in California, which is by far the state’s most widely-spread new strain. …

Deadline Hollywood 4/5